, 



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^R 





LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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i^Hp. @^tW ^ 

Shelf /jL./ O 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



\n 25 1834 



t 



THE 

NATURAL CURE 



OF 



CONSUMPTION, 

CONSTIPATION, BRIGHT'S DISEASE, NEURALGIA, 
RHEUMATISM, " COLDS" (FEVERS), Etc. 



HOW SICKNESS ORIGINATES, AND HOW TO 
PREVENT IT. 



A HEALTH MANUAL FOR THE PEOPLE. 



... 



BY 



C. E. PAGE, M.D., 

AUTHOR OF U HOW TO FEED THE BABY," ETC. 



/ 

NEW YORK : "^ *" 
FOWLER & WELLS, PUBLISHERS 
753 Broadway. 
1SS4. 



"^c. 



Y^ 



COPYRIGHT, 1883, BY 

FOWLER & WELLS. 



EDWARD O. JENKINS, 

Printer and Stereotyper^ 
20 North William Street, New York. 



TO 
THE SICK AND SUFFERING, 

EVERYWHERE, 

THE HOPELESSLY SICK WHO WOULD DECLINE IN COMFORT, 

AND 

THE THOUSANDS, WHO, NOW DYING, BUT, HAVING THE WAY 
POINTED OUT, 

MAY PROVE THEMSELVES STILL " FIT TO SURVIVE/' 

I dedicate 

THIS 

NATURAL CURE OF DISEASE. 



PREFACE. 



The inexpert, — they who can not claim sufficient 
acquaintance with a given subject to enable them to 
think freely (" free thinking " being altogether another 
matter),- — find it sufficiently difficult to obtain an 
author's meaning, when they are really desirous of 
so doing, and devote some time and patience to the 
work in hand ; it is impossible, often, to arrive at just 
conclusions otherwise. The liability to error is in- 
creased many fold when the subject is not merely not 
popular, but is, in fact, ^-popular.. It is a prevalent 
custom to " skim over" a volume, and then praise or 
condemn it, according to the jreader's preconceived 
notion. 

Sick people searching for means whereby they may 
be made well, sometimes fall into this error, and for 
want of thoroughness in their reading of a health- 
book make blunders in carrying out the prescribed 
treatment. In such cases, not only do the patients 
themselves suffer, perhaps lose their lives, or fail in 
some way, but their failures exert an influence tend- 
ing to throw a sound method into disrepute. In this 
way it often happens that what is termed "dieting " 
is either overdone, half done, or not done at all in 



2 PREFACE. 

the manner designed by the author; "exercise" is 
taken under wrong conditions, as, for example, in point 
of time in relation to meals, it is conducted spasmod- 
ically or, perhaps, carried to excess, and the organism 
thereby depleted instead of strengthened ; if the pre- 
vailing habit of overwrapping the body is emphati- 
cally condemned, as is the case in the present volume, 
the reader, if a convert and designing to " go by the 
book/' may conclude that he is expected to go shiv- 
ering about in shirt-sleeves in all weathers ; and the 
unfriendly critic is sure to make a point — taking off 
the idea in a manner to send a chill along the spine 
of an inquiring consumptive. In this way, too, has 
arisen the saying, as applied to the supposed notion 
of food-reformers, " Whatever is good is bad, and 
whatever is bad is good." Whatever it may be 
worth, therefore, I preface this volume with the sim- 
ple request that the health-seeker, the casual reader, 
and the critic, alike, shall examine it in a manner to 
get the real meaning of the text before practicing, 
praising or condemning. 

Charles E. Page. 

Biddeford, Me., February, 1883. 
47 Rutland St., Boston, 
February, 1884. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGH 

Introduction, 7 

CHAPTER II. 
Consumption, 28 

CHAPTER III. 
Consumption — {Continued}, 50 

CHAPTER IV. 
Constipation, 107 

CHAPTER V. 
Bright's Disease — (Albuminuria), Croup, Diphthe- 
ria, etc., . . . . . . . .116 

■'■*> 

CHAPTER VI. k 
Insomnia—Insanity, 133 

CHAPTER VII. 
Rheumatism, Fatty Degeneration, etc., . . .145 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Biliousness, "Hay Fever," Neuralgia, etc., . .152 

CHAPTER IX. 
The Flesh-Food Fallacy, 15S 

CHAPTER X. 
Air-Baths,. Dyspepsia, Scrofula, etc., . . .166 

(3) 



4 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XL 
Saline Starvation— Caution, "Fossil Livers," . 177 

CHAPTER XII. 
Wheat-meal vs. "Entire Flour," . . . . 185 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Fruit, ''Scrofulous Humors," etc., . . . .191 

CHAPTER XIV. 
The One-meal System, 197 

CHAPTER XV. 
The Natural Diet: Its Relation to Scrofula 
and other Affections, 206 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Malaria, Sewer Gas, "Change of Air" at Home, 
etc., 236 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Coffee, Medicinally and Dietetically Consid- 
ered. — The True Theory of Stimulation, . 243 

COPTER XVIII. 
Appetite — Continence, 262 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Conclusion, 270 



AUTHORS CITED. 



Albertoni, Prof. 

Argyle, Duke of 

Beale, Sir Lionel, M.D., Etc. 

Bostwick, Dr. . 

British Medical Journal 

Brunton, T. Lauder, M.D., F.R.S. 

Bryant, William Cullen 

Combe, Andrew, M.D. 

Cooper/ Sir Astley, M.D., Etc. 

Davis, E. H., M.D. . 

Dickinson, W. Howship, M.D., F.R 

Evans, Prof., M.D. 

Farrar, Canon of Westminster 

fothergill, j. mllner, m.d. 

Franklin, Dr. Benjamin 

Frothingham, Rev. O. B. 

Goode, J. Mason, M.D. 

Gregory, Prof. James, M.D. 

Hall, Marshall 

Haller, Albrecht Von 

Holmes, Prof. Oliver Wendell, M 

Hunter, Charles D., M.D., Etc. 

Huxley, Prof. T. H. . 

Hygiene of the Brain 

Jackson, James C, M.D. 

Lancet, London, 

Lennen, M., M.D., Etc. 

McClintock, Dr. 

Moore, Thomas, M.D. 



C.P. 



D., Etc. 



. 60 

. 267 

. 152 

21 

244, 247 

59, 137 

. 109 

20 

21 

21 

. 117 

2T 
. 265 

• 63 
. 171 
. 256 

21 
21 

. 39 

. 210 

21 

. i 7 3 

5, 93. 246 

icg 

9, 270 

• ?47 

21 
ic 



(5) 



A UTHORS CITED. 



Nagel, Richard, M.D. . . * . . 218 

Nichols, James R., M.D. ..... 171 

Nichols, T. L., M.D. ..... 156, 205 

Oswald, Felix L., M.D. . . 29, 45, 47, 49, 51, 70, 188 

Parker, Prof. Willard, M.D. . . . .21 

Popular Science Monthly ..... 243 

Pitcher, , M.D. . ... . . .69 

Prescott, Prof. Albert B. . . . . . 243 

Richardson, Prof. B. W., M.D. . . . 171, 240 

Rush, , M.D. ...... 133 

Sargent, Prof.. Dudley A. (Harvard) . . . 261 

Savage, M. J. . . . . . . 156, 157 

Scientific American ...... 239 

SCHLEMMER, Dr. ...... 212 

SCHMIDT-MUHLHEIM, PROF. . # . . . 60 

Shapter, Lewis, M.D. . . . . . 244 

Stevens, A. H., M.D. . . . . .21 

Thompson, Sir Henry .... 53> 54» 55. 56 

Virey, Jules, M.D. . . . . . . "202 

Welch, Prof. (Yale) . . . . . . 5 1 

Wood, Prof. Casey A., M.D. . . . . 145 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

ALTHOUGH it is evident to my mind that the world 
is growing more healthy and more moral with every 
generation — speaking of civilized nations — it is still, 
as all agree, in a most pitiful state as regards both 
moral and physical health. The two are indissolubly 
associated, notwithstanding the glaring exceptions 
which are, indeed, more apparent than real, and it is 
difficult to appreciate which leads — whether man 
grows more healthy as his moral tone improves or 
more moral as his physical state is exalted. Both 
are, in fact, constantly acting and reacting upon each 
other. Few people withdraw themselves from the in- 
fluence of disease-producing habits, who do not first 
come to hate disease as a symptom of disobedience 
to the laws governing their organism. The pain of 
an aching head is not sufficient, generally, although 
it may discount the tortures of the damned, to de- 
termine the sufferer to live a better life ; but when he 
comes to know the fact that the disorder is needless, 
brought upon himself by violation of law, and that 
it is the normal office of pain to warn of danger ; 

(7) 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

then, if he be conscientious, instead of cursing his 
suffering, he will feel ashamed of his sin, and endeavor 
to learn the laws of life and obey them. 

" In days gone by and not far away, there was a 
very general impression with the people that sickness 
and the death which so often follows it were of divine 
origination and ordainment. No person who might 
be sick blamed himself .for it ; certainly no one was 
held by the community of which he was a member, 
as in any sense responsible or blameworthy because 
of his death by sickness. It was believed that for 
reasons thoroughly justifiable, but incomprehensible 
to the mind of man, the Supreme Ruler saw fit to 
manifest His modes and methods of government, 
either providential or punitive, by taking away the 
health or the life of those who became sick, or who 
being sick died of their sickness. 

" This notion, though not so prevalent as formerly, 
still lingers in the popular mind and lies hidden away 
in the select circles of religious people, occasionally 
to be brought forth and urged upon public consider- 
ation with emphasis, when some person is taken sick 
and remains for many months and perhaps years an 
invalid, or when one taken sick suddenly dies. 

" There is no basis in science nor in religion for this 
impression. It never rose, it never can rise, to the 
dignity or worthiness of an idea ; it must always 
dwell, no matter who entertains it, on the low level 
of irrational impression. Its basis is error, not 
knowledge ; its superstructure is superstition. By 
and by, when mankind shall reach such a degree of 



IN TROD UC TION. g 

rational development as to understand that human 
life has its laws, and that human health is but the 
legitimate outcome of the operation of these laws, 
and that every human being of every tribe and kin- 
dred and tongue, is born to live on earth under such 
minute and careful providential arrangements as to 
hold within him, at his starting, great securities and 
guarantees of the very highest order, for the continu- 
ance of his life up to a definite period, and that by 
reason of this inherent capability, he is entitled to 
live to the full measure of his endowment, this fool- 
ish, I may say wicked, notion, that God kills people 
will disappear. When it shall be abandoned, the sick- 
ness which now is so common everywhere, and the 
deaths which now so frequently result, will cease, and 
human beings will live from birth to death by old 
age, casualties, and accidents one side, as surely as 
the seasons come and go." * 

Few people have any just conception of the preva- 
lence of disease even in their own midst — among 
their own kindred ; and this is simply because it never 
absurdly happens that all those who are subject to ill- 
nesses are "attacked " at the same time. When any 
large proportion are down at once, the doctors call it 
an epidemic, . and it is attributed to a "wave" — an 
epizootic or influenza wave, for example, according 
as the victims are horses or men (the poor animals 
depend upon the elevated race for their habits, and 
never have disease except these are unphysiologicaH, 
—when, in fact, the so-called epidemic, whether it be 



* "The Absurdity of Sickness," by James C. Jackson, M.D. 

T* 



I o IN TROD UCTION. 

scarlet or yellow fever, diphtheria, or what not, is the 
result chiefly of the uniformly bad living habits of 
our people and their consequent predisposition to 
sickness. I do not ignore the influence of contagion 
in certain disorders, but assert that no person in 
prime physical condition is ever made sick by tran- 
sient contact with the so-called contagious diseases. 

" There can be no doubt," says Dr. Moore, " of the 
inherent effort of the system to preserve its integrity 
and to resist and overcome the effects of morbid in- 
fluences. And when the system is properly organ- 
ized and perfect in its physiological functions, it has 
the power to accomplish this (unless these obnoxious 
influences are so overwhelming as to destroy life at 
once) in a prompt and complete manner, unaided by 
any external influences whatsoever, so that health 
will be maintained and all injurious action of disease- 
producing causes unconsciously and successfully avert- 
ed. But if instead of such a properly organized and 
healthy system, we have formed an incomplete and 
inferior grade of structural organization, and conse- 
quently an enervated nervous system, resulting from 
imperfect and deficient nutrition, such as evidently 
exists in the scorbutic diathesis (the effect of defi- 
ciency in vegetable food), or as must result from 
habitual or frequent digestive disturbances, this en- 
deavor to resist or avert disease, will be necessarily 
so enfeebled that it will be impossible for the system, 
by its own inherent and unaided energy, either to 
ward off or to overcome the effects of disease-pro- 
ducing agents. This protective and restorative effort, 



IN TROD UCTION. 1 1 

if not sustained by a high character of structural or- 
ganization and active nervous energy, must be fol- 
lowed, therefore, as a natural consequence, by an ex- 
haustion of vital power ; in which condition there 
would be evidently an increased susceptibility to all 
morbific influences, and a marked predisposition to 
any exciting causes of disease which might be brought 
to bear upon it. 

" It is well known that certain individuals are more 
severely affected by any ascertained cause of disease 
than others ; and also that the same exciting cause 
may at one time produce serious disturbance of 
health, while at another, and under precisely the 
same conditions, as far as known, no injurious effect 
is produced. How frequently do we observe during 
the same epidemic, as, for instance, scarlet fever, 
measles, diphtheria (and even of sporadic forms of 
disease), a marked difference in the character and se- 
verity of individual cases. Even in members of the 
same family, under apparently similar conditions, 
some are stricken down with the most malignant 
form of one of these diseases, while others may, at 
the same time, be but slightly affected by it, or per- 
haps entirely escape an attack. It can not be that 
they who are the most severely affected receive a 
larger or a stronger dose of the morbific agent which 
has produced the disorder, than the others, and that 
the disease-producing influence, in consequence of 
larger quantity or greater strength and power, acts 
with more severity and force on one than on another. 
For, leaving out of consideration all effects of exist- 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

ing predisposition, we know that a person unprotect- 
ed by a previous attack or by vaccination, would be, 
in all probability, just as severely affected by the con- 
tagious influence of a case of small-pox, whether he 
was exposed for a few moments or for several hours ; 
and besides, it would make no difference whether the 
case happened to be a mild one or of a more malig- 
nant form. 

" It is, therefore, difficult to account for this varia- 
ble operation of disease-producing agents, unless we 
admit the existence of such a latent predisposition as 
that already mentioned, and acknowledge that the 
system, at the time of exposure to disease-producing 
causes, is thereby made more or less susceptible to 
their effects in proportion to the development of such 
a predisposition. The less the power of resistance 
and the greater the degree of impressibility, the more 
aggravated will be the character of every disease 
which affect the system while it is thus predisposed ; 
or, in other words, the severity of the disease will be 
proportionate to the degree of departure from the 
standard of health/' * 

Predisposition is that state of susceptibility pro- 
duced by the continued operation of the predispos- 
ing cause. Exciting causes are those which tend to 
the immediate development of diseases, especially in 
a system already having a predisposition thereto. 

But in my opening remarks, I had in view, particu- 
larly, the common sicknesses that prevail among us, 



* " Predisposition and Typhoid Tendency," by Thomas Moore, M.D. 
Philadelphia. 



IN TROD UCT10N. 1 3 

and which are not classed as contagious. Not one 
in the thousand of our population so lives as to feel 
an assurance of absolute health for, say, a single 
month, much less for the corning twelve months. 
There are, however, among the class I shall hold up 
as examples to my readers, further on, individuals who 
would be willing to stake their lives on their ability 
to meet any engagement depending upon a mental 
and physical state, equal to that enjoyed at the pres- 
ent moment, on any day, week, or month, during the 
next year or ten years ; and every ordinarily healthy 
person, who can fairly be called a free agent, ought to 
be able to feel such an assurance in his own case ; 
and if he be at middle-age, or under, and afflicted 
with ailments, other than organic and incurable, he 
should be able to count with certainty on being a 
better man, physically as well as morally, ten years 
hence than he is to-day. 

But how is it in practice? Why, even our national 
salutation (which is, also, about the same among all 
civilized nations) is significant in this connection, as 
we shall observe, further on : if sickness was the ex- 
ception and not the rule, health would not be the 
stock question everywhere and always — the prin- 
cipal theme of conversation — as it is now. People 
seem to delight in a subject that they know nothing 
about, like a good old Methodist preacher I once 
knew, who said on one occasion, at prayer-meeting : 
"I love to talk about religion — I have so little of it." 

We talk about enjoying good health, and some of 
my readers would, I dare say, make the claim for 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

themselves, although too well aware of occasional 
lapses, and indeed the great proportion of our people, 
in spite of heredity, might obtain, and rest secure in, 
a high state of health ; but, living as they do, a truly 
sound person is almost the rarest thing in the world. 

" How are you? " is the question on meeting an ac- 
quaintance. " First-rate, although I have my old sick 
headaches occasionally." Another replies, " Pretty well, 
now — have just had a touch of neuralgia — you know I 
always had that now and then." Another has a " bad 
cold in the head." Smith enjoys good health, al- 
though " troubled a good deal with dyspepsia, consti- 
pation, etc.," which means that he is constantly an- 
noyed by symptoms inseparable from his disease. 
Jones is " tip-top," with an occasional " attack" of 
cholera-morbus, or a bilious spell. Brown " never 
was better in his life," but could tell you of a fearful 
sickness last spring — " like to have died," and no 
wonder — he had three drug doctors and a gallstone ! 
Robinson is " tough as a knot" — just now — since 
getting cleaned out by erysipelas — an eruption of the 
accumulated poison resulting from his bad habits. 
It was a fearful " attack," as he says ! " The doctor 
called it the worst case he ever saw — my head was 
swelled so I couldn't see for weeks — used up a bushel 
of cranberries in poultices, when I had counted on 
having cranberry sauce all winter — did not get a 
spoonful." Of course Robinson exaggerates about 
the quantity of cranberries. 

Tom, one of the healthiest-looking specimens, re- 
cently had typhoid fever and came near dying. Mrs. 



INTRODUCTION. 1 5 

Dick had " slow fever " the past summer and managed 
to keep it a-going for three months. She says it was a 
dreadful " attack "; and she tries to explain it by say- 
ing that several years ago, she had it every summer 
for three summers, and " it generally leaves the seeds 
in the system ! " Harry's wife had stoppage and in- 
flammation of the bowels — a deadly sickness for six 
months, entailing infinite distress on the large family 
that needed her about so much. "The doctor's big 
bill isn't paid yet," she mourns, " and mercy only 
knows when it will be." She has always been a well 
woman, so-called, has always seemed pretty well until 
this terrible disease " attacked " her. 

The list is endless, of the so-called healthy ones 
who have been from time to time " attacked" with 
one disorder or another and recovered, — while the 
mortality reports from week to week tell the final 
story of the premature taking off of thousands of 
men, women, and children who, although always re- 
garded by themselves and friends as healthy, have suf- 
fered the death-penalty after a longer or shorter im- 
prisonment. 

How often we hear such remarks as this : " I never 
was so surprised in my life as I was to hear of Miss 
Blank's death — perfect picture of health — fat, hearty, 
red-cheeked— the last person in the world I would 
have thought of dying." This shows how much the 
people know about health. Ninety-nine in a hundred 
would have called this young lady a specimen of 
health, when, in fact, any expert would have known 
that she was a typhoid subject — almost sure to be 



1 6 INTRODUCTION, 

down with it sooner or later, and, with her whole 
physical conditions so against her, that recovery 
would be almost a miracle, under the prevailing sys- 
tem of treatment. Just recall the scores of cases 
where you, my dear reader, have been surprised at 
the death of this or that friend, " always so strong 
and well." In fact, this is so common that we ex- 
pect to be surprised continually, and are not much 
surprised when we are ! 

How many healthy-born infants die before their 
first year is reached — babies that for months are mis- 
takenly regarded as pictures of health — " never knew 
a sick day until they were attacked " with cholera- 
infantum, scarlatina, or something else. They are 
crammed with food, made gross with fat, and for a 
time are active and cunning, the delight of parents 
and friends — and then, after a season of constipation, 
a season of chronic vomiting, and a season of cholera- 
infantum, the little emaciated skeletons are buried in 
the ground away from the sight of those who have 
literally loved them to death. This is the fate of one- 
third of all the children born. As a rule, babies are 
fed as an ignorant servant feeds the cook-stove — fill- 
ing the fire-box so full, often, that the covers are raised, 
the stove smokes and gases at every hole, and the fire 
is either put out altogether, or, if there is combustion 
of the whole body of coals, the stove is rapidly burned 
out and destroyed. With baby, " overheating" means 
the fever that consumes him, and, in " putting out the 
fire," too often the fire of life goes out also.* 

* For a thorough discussion of this question see the author's work on Infant 
Dietetics, entitled " How to Feed the Baby " New York : Fowler & Wells. 



INTRODUCTION, 



17 



" For the preservation of life God has ordained cer- 
tain laws to be observed, the neglect of which neces- 
sarily brings disease and premature death." Hence 
it is that if any of us are sick — except from accidents 
or congenital causes — it is our own fault. If v/e have 
dyspepsia, and the endless afflictions resulting from 
this parent of diseases, it is our own fault — either of 
ignorance or carelessness. If neuralgia, " sciatica," 
rheumatism, gout, or sick-headache afflicts us, we can 
thank ourselves ; for the simple question is — whether 
it will "pay" to keep clear of them? It is all very 
fine to bowl along without thought ; to eat, drink, 
and breathe, without using our brains or consciences, 
and to shun the best products of the brains of others 
who make this subject the study of their lives, and 
when the inevitable sickness comes shift the respon- 
sibility on to the Lord. It is rank blasphemy, never- 
theless. 

In the struggle of life, when so many of His 
children are engrossed in the vital question of bread- 
winning ; when to obtain the mere necessities of life, 
or, at most, these and the ordinary comforts, requires 
all the time, early and late, of so large a portion of 
the human family, it is not to be supposed that the 
Creator designed that the due and proper care of the 
body — its development and the maintenance of a 
healthy state — should be a matter of such complica- 
tions as to be beyond the comprehension of ordinary 
mortals, or require the expenditure of an amount of 
time that would prove embarrassing to all, and totally 
impossible to many. Nor should Christians conclude 



1 8 IN TROD UC T/ON. 

that an " all-wise, all-merciful, and all-powerful Father ' 
designed that the creatures formed in " His own like- 
ness " should alone, of all created beings, be necessarily 
subject to the multifarious forms of disease, that in 
fact, under present conditions, do so continually afflict 
them. Happily such conclusions are not borne out by 
rational experience ; for, in practice, it is found that 
not only is less trouble and expense required to keep 
well, than to pursue a course that is promotive of dis- 
ease ; and to get well when disease is really fastened 
upon us, than to continue the general regimen that 
has worked the mischief, and seek to counteract it by 
poisonous drugs ; but in fact it has been clearly shown 
by innumerable living examples, that neither much 
time, trouble, or expense is necessary to maintain the 
body in a state of absolute health — perfect ease and 
comfort — when once this state has been reached, or 
to restore to comparative health a large proportion of 
" miserable sinners" who, without a radical change in 
their mode of life, must continue to suffer from their 
self-inflicted pains. 

It requires no more time to breathe pure than im- 
pure air — and no more time or expense to obtain it : 
it is as free as air, and will fill our homes, without 
money and without price, unless we seal them against 
its admission. The poorest factory-operative that 
goes by the bell, can with a pint of water and a single 
towel, if need be, take a three-minute bath any or 
every morning, if he appreciates its importance and 
is conscientious in his living. It costs no more to eat 
enough than to over-indulge the appetite, as is the 



IN TROD UC TION. 1 9 

universal rule, high and low, until nausea and lack of 
appetite compel abstinence or moderation. It costs 
money to poison the system with beer or tobacco, 
and thus shorten one's life and impair its usefulness, 
and transmit evil moral and physical tendencies to 
his offspring, but it is a ten-fold saving to keep clear 
of these evils. And so it proves throughout the list : 
it is cheap to keep well, and dear to get sick. 

" So to observe Nature as to learn her laws and obey 
them, is to observe the commandments of the Lord to 
do them. It has so long been the habit to exalt the 
mind as the noble, spiritual, and immortal part, at 
the expense of the body, as the vile, material and 
mortal part, that, while it is not thought at all strange 
that every possible care and attention should be given 
to mental cultivation, a person w T ho should give the 
same sort of careful attention to his body would be 
thought somewhat meanly of. And yet I am sure 
that a wise man who would ease best the burden of 
life, can not do better than watchfully to keep unde- 
filed and holy — that is, healthy — the noble temple of 
his body. Is it not a glaring inconsistency that men 
should pretend to fall into ecstasies of admiration of 
the temples which they have built with their own 
hands, and to claim reverence for their ruins, and, at 
the same time, should have no reverence for, or should 
actually speak contemptuously of, that most complex, 
ingenious, and admirable structure which the human 
body is? However, if they really neglect it, it is 
secure of its revenge — no one will come to much by his 
most strenuous mental exercises, except upon the 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

basis of a good organization ; for a sound body is 
assuredly the foundation of a sound mind." (Mauds- 
ley). 

That there is need of a radical change in the study 
and practice of medicine, is well known among those 
who have examined the subject with any degree of 
thoroughness. A prominent defect is thus described 
by the eminent Dr. Combe : "The little regard," he 
says, " which has hitherto been paid to the laws of 
the human constitution, as the true basis on which 
our attempts to improve the condition of man ought 
to rest, will be obvious from the fact, that, notwith- 
standing the direct uses, to which a knowledge of the 
conditions, which regulate the healthy action of the 
bodily organs, may be applied in the prevention, de- 
tection, and treatment of disease, there is scarcely a 
medical school in this country (Great Britain)* in 
which any special provision is made for teaching it. 
.... The prominent aim of medicine being to dis- 
criminate, and to cure diseases, both the teacher and 
the student naturally fix upon that as their chief object, 
and are consequently apt to overlook the indirect (!) 
but substantial aid, which an acquaintance with the 
laws of health is calculated to afford, in restoring the 
sick as well as in preserving the healthy from dis- 
ease." The use of the word " indirect," in this con- 
nection shows how far Dr. Combe, himself, was from 
having a true comprehension of the importance of 

* Some advance has been made in this direction of late, but the outlook 
is far from satisfactory ; there is scarcely a college lecture-room but in defi- 
cient ventilation, or a lecturer whose living habits, and, consequently, per- 
sonal health, do not cry aloud, " Physician, heal thyself." 



IN TROD UC TION. 2 1 

hygienic knowledge. Although individuals, here and 
there, finally work out this knowledge for themselves, 
it is generally late in life, when long years of blunder- 
ing practice have forced it upon them. Hear what 
some of the wise old heads say on this point : 

A. H. Stevens, M.D. : "The older physicians grow, 
the more skeptical they become in the virtues of 
their own medicines." Prof. Willard Parker : " Of all 
sciences, medicine is the most unreliable." Prof E. 
H. Davis: "The vital effects of medicine are little 
understood." J. Mason Goode, M.D. : "The science 
of medicine is a barbarous jargon." Dr. Bostwick, 
author of " History of Medicine " : " Every dose of 
medicine is a blind experiment." Prof. Evans, M.D. : 
" The medical practice of the present day is neither 
philosophy nor common sense." It was the well- 
known remark of Dr. James Gregory, who added as 
much reputation to the medical school of the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh, as any other individual — that, 
" ninety-nine in the hundred medical ( facts ' are medi- 
cal lies, and that all medical theories are stark, star- 
ing nonsense." Dr. McClintock : " Mercury has made 
more cripples than all wars combined," and he might 
have added that the abuse of soda or potassa in its 
present various forms is destroying myriads of stom- 
achs every year beyond redemption. Sir Astley 
Cooper, the most famous physician and surgeon of 
the age: "The science of medicine is founded on 
conjecture and improved by murder." Oliver Wen- 
dell Holmes said before a medical class in 1 86 1 : 
" The disgrace of medicine has been that colossal 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

system of self-deception, in obedience to which mines 
have been emptied of their cankering minerals, the 
vegetable kingdom robbed of all its growth, the en- 
trails of animals taxed for their impurities, the poi- 
son bags of reptiles drained of their venom, and all 
the conceivable abominations thus obtained thrust 
down the throats of human beings, suffering from 
some fault of organization, nourishment, or vital 
stimulation. " 

That the practice of medicine to-day is not what it 
should be, is due largely to the position of the laity 
on this point — their aversion to taking advice instead 
of medicine. They will consider the question of 
prevention, in the shape of anti-bilious pills, for ex- 
ample, but not at the expense of their lawful follies. 
If indeed physicians, generally, knew enough about 
the natural laws to retain their own health, how could 
they all derive an income from teaching the simple 
method by which all their neighbors would remain 
well ? A patient, for example, is suffering pain, and 
sends for the doctor, who comes, examines, and finally 
says, " I find nothing serious here — this pain in the 
head will soon leave you — just keep about if you 
can ; if not, remain quiet. Coming in from the fresh 
air, I observe that your room is very close, sufficient 
of itself to give ybu the headache — change the air 
and keep it pure ; eat nothing more to-day : you are 
" ahead of your stomach," withal ; in fact, that is the 
chief trouble, Take a quick sponge bath on retiring, 
and you will find yourself all right in the morning — 
you need no medicine." Do you fancy he would get 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

another call from her, or from her friends through 
her influence? Her head aches, and she is incensed 
at such heartless nonsense. She sends for another 
doctor, who will probably be sharp enough to treat 
her disposition, and endeavor to " control the symp- 
toms " instead of teaching her to remove the disease 
by removing its cause ; he gives her a " quieting 
medicine " — something to deaden her senses ; she has 
several days' illness, he gets several fees — as he ought, 
to be sure — and the good-will of the family ; and so 
he rises in the profession, while the other falls into 
the shade unless he drops his hygienic nonsense. 
Thus, we observe, a premium on shrewdness and a 
tax on sincerity. 

" It is notorious that in proportion to people's ig- 
norance of their own constitutions and the true causes 
of disease, is their credulous confidence in pills, po- 
tions, and quackish absurdities, and while this igno- 
rance continues, there will, of course, be plenty of 
doctors who will pander to it. And not the least of 
the benefits likely to follow the better diffusion of 
physiological and sanitary information will be the 
protection of the community from the numberless 
impostures of charlatanism, and a better discrimina- 
tion of the qualifications of competent physicians. " * 

I take it that all are agreed as to the desirability of 
good health, although it is often said of a certain 
class of chronic invalids, that if they were to be de- 
prived of the pleasure of croning over and detailing 
their symptoms, life would have no charms for them. 

* " Physiology and Hygiene," Huxley and Yotimans. 



24 



INTRODUCTION, 



But this is a provision of nature to prevent the mean 
est life from becoming altogether an unmitigated 
burden : when a person becomes so disordered phys- 
ically that he has nothing else to enjoy, a certain 
depraved condition of mind is induced which enables 
him to extract a little satisfaction from dwelling upon 
and recounting his miseries ! In contrast to such 
cases how gloriously shines out the example of the 
old lady who, on being interviewed by the minister, 
thus related her experiences : her husband had been 
long dead, leaving her with eight children, whom, 
through her own labor, she reared and educated. One 
after another all had died after lingering illnesses — 
the last, a son, the only support of her old age, had 
been recently buried ; and, to crown all, the remnant 
of the little property left by her husband, had just 
passed from her possession — the uninsured buildings 
by fire, and the land by the foreclosure of the mort- 
gage. " But/' concluded the dear old soul, while her 
brow lightened and her eye kindled with enthusiasm, 
" thank the Lord, I have two teeth left, and praise 
and bless His holy name, they are opposite each 
other ! " I pause to note an important lesson — the 
influence upon health, of prevalent good nature, and 
the habit, which may be cultivated, of looking on the 
bright side of things. " People ask me," says Old So- 
journer Truth, " how I came to live so long and keep 
my mind, and I tell them that it is ' because I think of 
the great things of God, not little things/ I don't 
fritter my mind away in caring for trifles." 

It has been elsewhere noted — the propensity of 



INTRODUCTION. 25 

people in general for preferring medicine to advice. 
If the world were convinced that the writer possessed 
an unfailing remedy — a " medicine 5 ' that would cure 
every physical ailment and prevent disease, it would 
be demanded faster than it could be manufactured, 
though every gin-mill in the land were transformed 
into a laboratory for its production. No price would 
be deemed exorbitant, and, though the mixture were 
black as ink, and more nauseating than the vilest drug 
in our vile Materia Medica, it would still be gulped 
down as a child demolishes bon-bons, if it never fail- 
ed in its efficacy. 

We have only to look over the newspaper advertis- 
ing columns to find scores of articles claiming to ac- 
complish this, at the very reasonable price of 50 cents 
to $1.00 per bottle, "large bottles cheapest/' and 
very agreeable to the taste ; and evidence abounds in 
the shape of letters purporting to have been written by 
such as have, although given up by the doctors, been 
withdrawn from the grave (regardless of the rights of 
the heirs and undertakers) — restored to the busy walks 
of life — " and no change of diet necessary/' Thousands 
upon thousands of otherwise sensible people are gull- 
ed into the belief that a few bottles of somebody's 
pretended " discovery," advertised in a yellow-cover- 
ed almanac, will cure whatever ails them. There is 
something so fascinating about such literature that I 
would almost as soon place a package of Paris-green 
within reach of a baby as to put, say, a medical al- 
manac, and more particularly a cookery-book wit... 
fancy dishes and medical lies alternating, in the hands 



2 6 INTRODUCTION. 

of the average adult. There isn't one in fifty proof 
against them. Let the most robust Congressman 
spend one half-hour reading one of these " messages/' 
with the endless variety of symptoms therein given, 
and the hundreds of letters of the blest — fabricated 
in the proprietor's office, or, at best, written by his 
victims during a temporary suppression of the symp- 
toms — and, comparing his own feelings with those 
described, the chances are that he would soon be 
pouring down the medicine — convinced that it hit his 
case exactly. Why is this possible? Why, indeed, 
do we have a drug-store on every other corner, with 
•shelves packed with the infamous " regular" and 
irregular remedies, simple and compound ? Simply 
because ninety-five in the hundred men, women, and 
children so treat themselves that they do have, from 
day to day, or week to week, various symptoms more 
or less severe, all indicative of derangement of the 
bodily functions. And because of this the medicine- 
makers know that he who is the keenest and boldest 
in prostituting the art of printing, will reap the richest 
harvest, by reason of the ignorance and disease-pro- 
ducing habits of the people. 

I will conclude these introductory remarks with 
the beautiful and impressive language of Professor 
Maudsley, the eminent English physician, especially 
celebrated in connection with the treatment of men- 
tal disorders, and who, as shown by the paragraph 
already quoted, emphasizes in the strongest manner, 
not only the intimate connection between the mind 
and the body — their interdependence the one with 



INTRODUCTION. 27 

the other — but, also, the moral obligation of the man 
to learn and obey the laws which tend to exalt both : 
" Notably the best rules for the .conduct of life are 
the fruits of the best observations of men and things ; 
the achievements of science are no more than the or- 
ganized gains — orderly and methodically arranged — 
of an exact and systematic observation of the various 
departments of Nature; the noblest products of the 
arts are Nature ennobled through human means, the 
art itself being Nature. There are not two worlds — 
a world of Nature and a world of human nature — 
standing over against one another, in a sort of antag- 
onism, but one world of Nature, in the orderly evolu- 
tion of which human nature has its subordinate part. 
Disease, hallucinations, idiosyncrasies of whatever sort, 
are the product of disobedience to law — discordant 
notes in the Divine harmony, which result from an 
unskillful or careless touch. It should, then, be every 
man's steadfast aim, as a part of Nature, his patient 
work, to cultivate such entire sincerity of relations 
with it, so to think, feel, and act, always in intimate 
unison with it, that when the summons comes to sur- 
render his mortal part to absorption into it, he does 
so, not fearfully, as to an enemy who has vanquished 
him, but trustfully, as to a mother who, when the 
day's task is done, bids him lie down to sleep." 



CHAPTER II. 

CONSUMPTION. 

AMONG the causes of consumption it is usually held 
that inherited tendency is one of the most efficient. 
Considering, however, the fact that this is a matter 
beyond our control ; that is, a cause that we can not 
remove, it is hardly worth while to devote further 
space, just here, to its consideration. We can not 
create a new constitution; neither the mischief 
of a defective inheritance, nor of years of disobe- 
dience to the laws of life, can be atoned for — the 
future only is ours ; the balance of vital capital can 
be expended judiciously, good health regained, often, 
and life made easy and extended to the utmost limit. 
Leaving the question of the influence of the spiritual 
over the physical nature for later consideration (see 
Conclusion), we have, practically, to take the body as 
we find it, and aim to conserve its vitality and to im- 
prove its condition ; and when affected by disease, 
whether inherited or acquired, to seek its removal by 
building up the constitution, so to say, by every 
means in our power. 

Notwithstanding the prevalent belief among physi- 
cians and laymen to the contrary, a belief based upon 
(28) 



CONSUMPTION. 



2 9 



the result of a form of treatment as irrational as it is 
uniform and universal, I agree with Dr. Oswald, who, 
in his new work — the most entertaining, as well as 
the soundest health-book extant — asserts that " Pul- 
monary fonsuniption, in its early stages, is perhaps 
the most curable of all chronic diseases. The rec- 
ords of the dissecting-room prove that in numerous 
cases lungs, wasted to one-half of their normal size, 
have been healed, and, after a perfect cicatrization 
of the tuberculous ulcefs, have for years performed 
all the essential functions of the sound organ. Still, 
the actual waste of tissue is never perfectly repaired, 
and fragmentary lungs, supplying the undiminished 
wants of the whole organism, must necessarily do 
double work, and will be less able to respond to the 
demands of an abnormal exigency. 

" But the lungs of a young child of consumptive 
parents are sound, though very sensitive, and, if the 
climacteric of the first teens has been passed in safety, 
or without too serious damage, the problem becomes 
reduced to the work of preservation and invigoration : 
the all but Intact lungs of the healthy child can be 
more perfectly redeemed than the rudimentary organs 
of the far-gone consumptive ; the phthisical taint can 
be more entirely eliminated and the respiratory appa- 
ratus strengthened to the degree of becoming the 
most vigorous part of the organism. The poet Goethe, 
afflicted in his childhood with spitting of blood and 
other hectic symptoms, thus completely redeemed 
himself by a judicious system of self-culture. Cha- 
teaubriand, a child of consumptive parents, steeled 



3 o THE NATURAL CURE OF 

his constitution by traveling and fasting, and reached 
his eightieth year. 

" By a relapse into imprudent habits, however, the 
latent spark, which under such circumstances seems 
to defy the eliminative efforts of half a century, may 
at any time be fanned into life-consuming flames ; 
but in ninety-nine out of a hundred cases it will be 
found that the first improvement followed upon a 
change from a sedentary to an outdoor and active 
mode of life." * 

Anything that constitutes a tax upon the system 
beyond its ability to extract an ultimate good there- 
from — for we know that, within certain limits, taxing 
the powers, the mental, physical and emotional, tends 
to exalt them — or to put it squarely : anything that 
overtaxes the system in any direction, tends to induce 
that state or condition commonly recognized as con- 
sumption. No greater error can be made than that 
of considering this disease as primarily affecting the 
lungs. The lungs are readily affected by disorder of 
the digestive organs. While it may not at first be plain 
to the ordinary reader how catarrh, sore throat, bron- 
chitis and even congestion of the lungsf could origi- 
nate in this manner; it is nevertheless true that they 
not only can and do thus originate, but this is in fact 
the most available and constantly operative source of 
respiratory affections. They may be affected directly 



* Oswald's " Physical Education." 

t This disorder, which is supposed often to cause consumption, is rather 
a disease of indigestion, and is especially apt to attack patients already in 
consumption, because of their chronically disordered nutritive and respira* 
tory organs. 



CONSUMPTION. 



31 



by continuity of tissue, or indirectly through the 
sympathetic system. All understand something 
about the practical working of the telegraphic sys- 
tem, by which a touch of the wire at Boston, for 
example, may not only be felt at any point in our 
own country, but even in England or Europe. How 
often, in joy or affliction, the wire constitutes a sym- 
pathetic connection between friends, families, na- 
tions. The nervous system forms a sympathetic con- 
nection between the different parts throughout the 
organism, only it is more complete, ten thousand 
times over, than the telegraphic or telephonic system. 
If in these cases the wires were to take on disease, — be- 
come inflamed and so affected as to cause the same 
states, emotions, or disasters, at the point where an 
unhappy message is received as at the point of de- 
parture, — it would constitute for the nation and the 
w r orld what the sympathetic nervous system does 
for the animal organism. Should we not, then, de- 
plore its existence, and grieve that we aje so " fear- 
fully and wonderfully made " ? Nevertheless, it is 
directly a great boon, and but for this intimate con- 
nection between the different portions of the body — 
for want of this most efficient set of safety valves, so 
to say- — the organs primarily affected would more often 
become fatally diseased and life speedily terminated. 
Indeed, in spite of this most wonderful provision of 
nature, the violations of law are so constant and severe, 
or so overwhelming upon occasion, that life is often 
destroyed with but a moment of warning, as in 
apoplexy, " heart disease/' and sunstroke, so called. 



32 



THE NATURAL CURE OF 



Strictly speaking, however, even in these cases there 
have been premonitions without number, dating afar 
back (see Bright's Disease), which would have pre- 
vented the disaster if only they had been known and 
heeded. 

Says Professor J. C. Zachos {Studies in Science) : 
"..■... Such is the present system of telegraph- 
ing, which if it were multiplied so as to include every 
town and hamlet in the country, yea, even be within 
the reach of every individual as an operator, would 
convey but a feeble illustration of the complication, 
the number, the power, and the perfect unity of a 
similar system in the human body. 

" We have first in each individual cell a galvanic 
battery. There are countless millions of such cells in 
the human body, whose united force has never been 
estimated, but doubtless a million of tons would not 
approximate to the force they are exerting at any one 
instant of time. Each of these cells is provided with 
two nerves ;• an afferent and an efferent nerve, a carrier 
to, and a carrier from, that center ; each, endowed 
with different functions by reason of the duality of 
force generated in each cell : a force of motion and a 
force of sensation. A number of such cells and nerves 
may be combined and at a certain point of the circuit 
they make there, a concentration and accumulation of 
power by a plexus and convolution of these nerves, 
around a central substance called * neureline ' — a gran- 
ulated collection of particles that seem to take the 
place of the soft iron in the helix, for they are always 
found in the midst of these convoluted masses of 



CONSUMPTION. 



33 



nerves; these masses are called ganglia; they are the 
centers of nervous power and intelligence, connected 
each with some special group of functions ; associated 
by connecting nerves with each other, and having 
their central and common connection in the largest 
ganglion, called the brain. 

" No part of the system fails to be visited by these 
nerves, and although they are not discoverable in every 
tissue, yet their presence is inferred, because their func- 
tion is there — sensation or motion, or both.* 

" We can not at present enter into details in enu- 
merating the number, the structure, the special func- 
tions of these several ganglia, which might well be 
called the telegraphic stations of the body ; they vary 
from the size of a grain of sand, to that of the brain 
which fills the cavity of the skull. 

" But what shall we say of that principle of intelli- 
gence which pervades every part of this complicated 
system ; which dwells in each of the thousand millions 
of cells, where the chemical laboratories are furnish- 
ing out of the crude materials of the food, the won- 
derful organisms of every part of the body? Intelli- 
gence and contrivance reign in every cell ; combina- 
tion and co-operation are carried on through the instru- 
mentality of the nervous system. At the centres of 
co-operation and power there seem to be placed higher 
forms of intelligence that govern the whole of the 
subordinate functions by some unitary plan governing 



* Is it possible to overestimate the importance of perfect nutrition by 
which only this wonderful system can be preserved in health ? (See " Saline 
Starvation.") 



34 



THE NATURAL CURE OF 



thus the functions of the heart, or the liver, or the 
lungs. Finally, for the moral and social exigencies of 
man, there is provided an enormous centralization of 
co-operative intelligences and powers, that seem to 
have their seat in the brain ; but it is a republic and 
not a monarchy ; every individual cell in the body has 
its representative there, mediately or immediately ; 
every one contributes to the welfare of the whole, and 
can not be denied its rights, or be neglectful of its 
duties, without injury, in that proportion, to the whole 
republic. 

" There is a subtle and indefinable health beyond 
that of the stomach and muscular powers ; a man may 
be torpid in moral brain and intellectual functions, 
who yet has an excellent appetite and can do the 
work of an ox* This is not usually regarded as sick- 
ness, or needing any physiological treatment. But it 
is as much so as the grossest form of sickness. A 
man's temper and disposition may be the only evi- 
dence that his liver is out of order. A paroxysm of 
rage may come from a diseased spleen, and many a 
murder, arson, and suicide, I doubt not, come from a 
defective hygiene. 

" Physiology is an integral part of theology. Sani- 
tary reforms lie at the foundation of moral reforms. 
Christianity is health, and the means of escaping from 
disease. 

" No delusion is so vain as to suppose that this 



* Others, again, are physically as well as mentally impotent, while eating 
enormously, ' ' the digestion and excretion of superfluous food almost mo« 
uopolizing the vital energy." 



CONSUMPTION. 



35 



world is ever to be Christianized, society purified and 
exalted, man saved and brought to' the divine likeness, 
while a thousand forms of disease prey upon his 
vitals, cloud his moral perceptions, enfeeble or exas- 
perate his will, overwhelm him with pain and confu- 
sion, even in the midst of his noblest designs; and 
all this, because he knows not, or respects not suffi- 
ciently, the laws of his physical nature ; the subtle 
powers and mechanism of which are as divine in their 
origin and inflexible in their character as any that 
govern the soul." 

It is not necessary to know, precisely, how this 
sympathetic or telegraphic system operates in the 
conservation of health, but all of this knowledge that 
is essential to us is the understanding of the main fact, 
to know the nature of a message and from whence it 
comes, or its probable origin when doubt arises. It is 
owing to an imperfect knowledge of this law which 
causes so general a belief in the theory that the in- 
ternal organism takes on disease readily from the action 
of cold upon the surface of the body. But, in fact, the 
skin was especially designed to be played upon by 
extremes of heat and cold, wind and wet ; and human 
beings are not necessarily such pitiable creatures as 
they are made to appear from the general suppo- 
sition that a transient exposure to a current of pure 
air, whether wet, dry, cold or hot, is likely to bring 
on disease. "The immediate effects of a displacement 
of blood from the surface, and its determination to 
the internal organs, are not," says the Lancet, " as was 
once supposed, sufficient to produce the sort of con- 



36 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

gestion that issues in inflammation. If it were so, an 
inflammatory condition would be the common charac- 
teristic of our bodily state. When the vascular sys- 
tem is healthy, and that part of the nervous appa- 
ratus by which the calibre of the vessels is controlled 
performs its functions normally, any disturbance of 
equilibrium in the circulatory system which may have 
been produced by external cold will be quickly ad- 
justed. " Nothing so readily promotes disorder of the 
vascular system, and of the nervous apparatus which 
controls it, as to interfere with the nutrition of the 
nervous system ; and in turn, no cause is more effect- 
ual, and none more speedy, among the ordinary vicis- 
situdes of life, in depriving the nerves and tissues of 
their appropriate aliment, than an excessive or other- 
wise unwholesome diet and the consequent disturb- 
ance of the organs of nutrition; and the excess is 
increased relatively, and the disorder intensified* in 
proportion as the body is sweltered with clothing and 
defrauded of the " breath of life " — outdoor air. It 
is a very significant comment on the cold-air fallacy, 
that people of all ages, sexes, occupations and social 
positions, and in all conditions of general health, catch 
cold, say to-day, from the slightest exposures, often, 
indeed, they are totally at a loss to account for them 
except upon one surmise or another, like that of the 
old lady who -* caught her death o cold taking gruel 
out of a damp basin"; while next month, or next 
week, perhaps, the same individuals endure the most 
extreme exposure, as, for example, riding for hours in 
face of a driving rain or snow-storm, until wet and 
chilled through and through ; or, perhaps, being' 



CONSUMPTION. 



37 



turned out at night in bitter cold, half clad, to find 
their way from their burning dwelling to a distant 
neighbor's — in short, they may suffer the most taxing 
exposures and yet " catch " nothing more than a good 
appetite for a warm dinner or a cheery fireside. The 
boy who, as was supposed, caught a fearful cold one 
warm day last week, from merely stepping to the 
door bareheaded, stole away yesterday, when the 
mercury was twenty or thirty degrees lower, and bare- 
headed and barefooted, paddled in the frog-pond un- 
til his clothes were wet through and his lips blue with 
cold, and yet he turned out this morning without a 
trace of disease ! Can we learn nothing from con- 
stantly occurring instances of this character? The 
simple fact is, in such cases, in the first instance the 
victims were in bad condition, they had found the 
end of their rope, so to say, i.e., they had reached a 
point where from continued bad living the system 
could no longer contain the accumulated impurities 
and the overflow had to come, and come it would, 
sooner or later (and the later, the more severe), with- 
out even the influence of the slightest current of air, 
or any form of exposure. If a slight chill was ex- 
perienced it arose from the internal fever, and not, as 
was foolishly supposed, from the puff of pure air that 
was felt co-incident ly. But in the second instance, the 
" cold " of last week had cleansed the system more or 
less completely, and now, owing to the improved 
condition, the really severe exposures give rise to no 
symptoms of disease — the temporary inconvenience 
from the wet or the cold is all. 

Personally, I have been a life-long sufferer from 



38 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

colds, and as with every one (how many pass a 
year without "a cold " of some sort?) they came in 
a variety of forms, from the "snuffles" of crammed 
infancy and the "hay fever" of adult age, to neural- 
gia, rheumatism, and the like. No matter what name 
may be settled on, finally, to describe the disease, 
whether rheumatism, neuralgia, sick headache, kidney 
complaint, bilious fever, or what not, the victim is 
sure to say : " I caught a severe cold some way, and 
it settled " — wherever the uneasy symptoms are felt.* 
" A succession of colds " is the commonly-named ex- 
cuse, and the honestly-believed-in cause of lung affec- 
tions, including consumption ; but as the phrase is 
usually understood, it is the veriest blunder — the 
most pernicious blunder possible. Hence the space 
devoted to this subject. Some years ago I made a 
change in my habits as to diet and clothing : I quite 
abruptly abandoned the use of heavy-weight gar- 
ments, heavy flannels, and the practice of "bundling 
up " upon occasions of exposure, and I gave up the 
three-meal system, and the fish, flesh, and fowl, and 



* And so with non-healing wounds, cuts, bruises, " cold-sores," etc. Those 
people who have their bodies built up of impure material, who are unsound 
through and through, always "catch cold in it" when they have a wound of 
any kind or a sore ; and their flesh is easily wounded and sores come often, 
more or less mysteriously, and the most trifling wound that would, in the 
case of a healthy man, woman, or child, heal readily, and in a few days be 
entirely well, in their case "festers," and maybe troublesome for weeks or 
months, perhaps necessitating the amputation of a linger, hand, or a limb, 
or even causing death. Healthy people have no occasion for sores, boils, 
etc. ; but if filth exists in the system, these little volcanoes tend to eliminate 
it, and to the prevention of other diseases. The suppression of catarrhal or 
diarrhceal discharges often results in dangerous sicknesses, even fatal sick- 
nesses, unless their cause is first removed. (See Bright's Disease.) 



CONSUMPTION, 



39 



most of the accompaniments of the flesh diet, and 
have since lived mainly on vegetable food. I eat 
twice a day, nominally, but invariably skip a meal if 
there is any sign of indigestion, or whenever I think 
I should be better off without eating. I eat on an 
average about a dozen meals a week, each less in 
amount, though more nutritious than formerly. This 
keeps my appetite always perfect, but I am never 
" hungry," as when I ate three meals every day, 
" work or play." 

I was formerly hungry before every meal, and if any 
one of them was delayed for a single hour there was 
sure to be a faint and languid feeling — a disinclination 
for, and a seeming inability to, labor — which, however, 
would usually disappear if I kept on working ! From 
this I finally learned a most valuable lesson, viz : that 
the craving appetite that tempts one to forestall the 
regular meal hour is a species of " poison-hunger," akin 
to that which torments the inebriate if his customary 
dram is not forthcoming. In either case, whether the 
congested stomach seems to crave solid or liquid stim- 
ulants, the only wise thing is to abstain, remove or 
relieve the inflammatory state of the stomach by giv- 
ing it rest from digestive labor, and by judicious drink- 
ing of pure water, and then eat and drink so as to 
prevent a recurrence of the disorder. So universal is 
this disagreeable feeling with three-meal-flesh-and- 
pastry eaters and coffee-drinkers that Marshall Hall, 
evidently himself ignorant of its nature and cause, 
refers what he styles the "temper disease" to the 
mauvais quart d'heure before dinner! 



4 o THE NATURAL CURE OF 

Since adopting the new plan I can truly say 
that when I live up to it, as I do most of the 
time, I never have any of the symptoms of what 
is commonly known as cold, nor, indeed, any kind of 
physical inconvenience whatever. And yet, only 
twelve years ago, my physical condition was such that 
I bade fair to follow my mother, an aunt, an uncle, a 
sister, and a brother, all of whom died of tubercular 
consumption under the prevailing general regimen 
and medical treatment, both of which I design in 
this treatise to unqualifiedly denounce. 

In order, however, to see if I could, by exposure, 
cause the well-known symptoms of cold, I have made 
many experiments, some of which I will name : I 
have walked in snow and slop with low shoes until 
both shoes and socks were soaked through, and have 
sat thus for an hour or more ; after wearing all-wool 
flannels during moderate weather, I have, upon the 
approach of colder weather, removed my under-gar- 
ments, and have then attended to my outdoor affairs, 
minus the overcoat habitually worn ; I have slept in 
winter in a current blowing directly about my head 
and shoulders; upon going to bed, I have sat in 
a strong current, ejitirely nude, for a quarter of an 
hoifr, on a very cold, damp night in the fall of the 
year ; I have worn a flannel gown, and slept under 
heavy-weight bed-covers one night, and in cotton 
night-shirt and light-weight bed-clothes the next. 
These and similar experiments I have made repeat- 
edly, and have never been able to catch cold. I 
become cold, sometimes quite cold, and become 



CONSUMPTION. 41 

warm again, that is all. On the other hand, chang- 
ing the form of my experiments, returning to my 
old way, the prevalent style of living — a " generous 
diet " and a full meal every five or six hours through 
the day — I have found no difficulty in accumulating 
a cold ; and within a reasonable length of time could 
count upon it, although, now, a part of the programme 
consisted in taking the most extreme care to avoid 
what are commonly reckoned as exposures — keeping 
my feet ever warm and dry, paying strict attention 
to wraps,* etc. This is not simply my own individ- 
ual experience, but, also, of others who, either of their 
own accord or through my suggestion, have carefully , 
studied the matter ; while rational hygienists, gen- 
erally, attest to the main fact, that they endure all 
the ordinary vicissitudes of life without often being 
troubled with this most disagreeable complaint. 

In the course of my experimentation, whenever I 
have fed my cold as far as I wished or dared to go, I 
have, in every instance, banished the disease by ab- 
staining from food and indulging in extra rations of 
outdoor air — rain or shine. I have never known this 
remedy to fail of " breaking up " a common cold in 
twenty-four to forty-eight hours, whatever the age, 
sex, or occupation of the individual, and regardless of 
the supposed origin of the disease. Of course the 



* Said an observing friend to me : " I am apt to catch cold when I put on 
my winter flannels ; why is that ? " With those who may happen to be 
already near the brink, this effect is likely to follow the addition of an extra 
layer of flannel to the ordinary dress, unless they leave out a layer of food, 
so to say, or the weather happens to be enough colder on that day, to 
counteract the extra clothing. 



42 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

size of the " dose " must bear some relation to the 
severity of the disorder. Whenever I have chosen to 
prolong one of these experiments by continuing to 
eat heartily, as is customary with people in general, 
I have found my experience identical with that of 
others : the symptoms would increase in severity, and 
to acute catarrh, headache, slight feverishness, and 
languor, would be added sore throat, perhaps, w T ith 
pressure at the lungs, hoarseness, increased fever, and 
entire indisposition for exertion. In this case two, 
perhaps three, days' fasting (one, maybe two, in bed) 
would be required, w r ith a little extra sponging of the 
• skin, to reduce the fever and completely restore the 
balance. I have, to be sure, never been reckless 
enough to subject my system to the influence of 
impure air — to the quality of air, for example, that is 
the daily and nightly reliance of ninety and nine 
families in the hundred, rich or poor, in the city or 
country — this I would never do ; and for this reason 
my " colds " would be less severe, other things equal, 
than those of my neighbors, and more readily amen- 
able to "treatment"; but'the principle holds good in 
all cases. There are all degrees of obtuseness observ- 
able in the mental efforts of our fellow-creatures : I 
have had persons reply to this, that they " couldn't 
agree " with me entirely in my position, for they had 
"tried the remedy," when, in fact, as they would 
more or less hesitatingly admit, they had kept up 
their three-meal feeding, even after the appetite had 
passed the craving stage and the fitful stage ; and 
even after food became loathsome they had punished 



CONSUMPTION. 



43 



themselves more or less gruelly ; but, finally, driven 
to the wall, and eating little or nothing for a few 
days or weeks, because it was physically impossible 
to eat more, they have the assurance to declare, or 
the sublime stupidity to believe, that they have tried 
the fasting-cure, and that while " it might cure some," 
it wouldn't answer for them ! And they usually add 
— of all aphorisms the most foolish and misleading — 
" one's meat, another's poison." * It results, in such 

* Were I to summarize the arguments against the saying, that "what is 
meat for one is poison for another," I would put it something like this : Its 
author, and the people, have been deceived in that one person can dear whdt 
another can not. Some constitutions have withstood the worst habits — vio- 
lations of all the known laws of life — gluttony, intemperance to the degree 
of almost constant drunkenness, the grossest and most constant immorality 
in departments the most exhausting, until passed what we call old age — and 
still have rounded out a full century of life. Many, on the other hand, of 
frailer make, have, by reason of a tithe of such misconduct, been swept into 
premature graves, at middle-age, early manhood, or even in youth. Others, 
again, like the last named, and rapidly following them to destruction, have 
been kept back, put on the mending hand, and have lived fairly long lives, 
from renouncing their immoral practices, or, perhaps, simply their "un- 
healthy " practices as to diet, when these have been their only faults. As 
elsewhere remarked, thousands of lives have been saved and robust health re- 
gained, or gained for the first time, from adopting the vegetarian, as against 
the prevailing " mixed," diet. I believe that the reverse of this will not be even 
claimed by any one who has a right to claim expert knowledge. It may be 
relied upon that no substance that is positively wholesome for one person, is, 
in and of itself , injurious — speaking with relation to food. To this rule, it 
must be admitted, there are a few, isolated and, as yet, not fully explained 
exceptions — but the rule holds good ; and it is equally certain that whatever 
is, in and of itself , harmful for one person to eat or drink, smoke, snuff, or 
chew, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral, food or medicine, is not good, 
certainly not best, for any other person to eat, drink, absorb, or take into the 
system in any manner. It is true that there are many things transpiring be- 
fore our eyes every day which, to the superficial observer — and only the well- 
informed upon a given subject can see beneath the surface — form apparent 
exceptions to this rule — even to the degree of seeming to cast it aside as not 
a rule ; nevertheless, no rule holds more uniformly true than this. 



44 



THE NATURAL CURE OF 



cases, that if the individual recovers, he does so as 
the effect of seven-eighths starvation, involuntarily 
practiced, and extending over a period of weeks or 
months, when a few days of total abstinence early 
enough in the contest, before the appetite declined, 
would have saved the system from the depletion of a 
long-continued strain. 

Lest it be inferred that I design to intimate that 
any one could at once imitate my cold air experi- 
ments with impunity, immediately upon changing 
his method of living, I hasten to say that not all 
could do this, any more than they could imitate the 
muscular feats of an athlete. As the depraved 
muscular system has to be built up by degrees and 
by long practice, so the life-long sweltered skin can 
become accustomed to extreme changes of temper- 
ature only by a somewhat gradual change of habit. 
Besides, it takes some time for the general system to 
come under the influence of a pure diet ; and, again, 
the best of remedies have to be graduated in amount 
to the present condition of the patient. However, I 
am sure that most persons who will accustom them- 
selves to an out-door life and to light clothing, have 
only to reform their eating -habits to make them- 
selves virtually disease proof; while all classes may 
derive great benefit from a rational application of the 
principle. 

That certain symptoms, popularly called cold, are 
often excited by exposure to fresh air, damp air, 
draughts, and the like, is true enough ; and we 
should be devoutly thankful for this provision of Nat- 



CONS UMP TION. 45 

ure. But it is likewise true that these " exposures " 
do not, and can not, originate the disease that in its 
exit manifests the well-known symptoms. That al- 
ready exists, and has been for months, perhaps, ac- 
cumulating in the system; and now, an unusual 
amount of fresh air in the lungs and in contact with 
the skin, has so invigorated the organism as to enable 
it to institute measures for thrusting out the real 
disease ; hence catarrh, cough, expectoration, fever — 
for the name, cold, is a complete misnomer, and based 
upon a misconception as to the real nature of the 
disorder : the patient may be never so chilly, but the 
thermometer placed under the tongue at once shows 
that the temperature is above the normal standard. 
Says Dr. Oswald :* " Rightly interpreted, the external 
symptoms of disease constitute a restorative process 
that can not be brought to a satisfactory issue till the 
cause of the evil is removed. So that, in fact, the air- 
hater confounds the cause of his recovery with the 
cause of his disease. Among nations who pass their 
lives out-doors, catarrh and scrofula are unknown ; 
not fresh air, but the want of it, is the cause of 
countless diseases, of fatal diseases where people are 
in the habit of nailing down their windows every 
winter to keep their children from opening them. 
The only objection to a 'draught* through a de- 
fective window is, that the draught is generally not 
strong enough. An influx of fresh air into a sick- 
room is a ray of light into darkness, a messenger of 



* " Physical Education," by F. L. Oswald, M.D. New York : D. Apple- 
ton & Co. 



46 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

Vishnu visiting an abode of the damned. Cold air," 
he continues, " is a disinfectant, and under the pres- 
sure of a high wind a modicum of oxygen will pene- 
trate a house in spite of closed windows. This 
circumstance alone has preserved the lives of thou- 
sands whom no cough syrup, or cod-liver oil could 
have saved." 

Referring once more to the sympathetic telegraph, 
we find, for instance, that a small wound in the 
foot may produce lock-jaw ; a blow on the elbow 
makes the fingers tingle ; touch the soft palate 
with the finger and the stomach offers up its 
contents ; and in the same manner, substantially, 
irritation or congestion of the stomach or intestines 
will give rise to tickling in the throat, itching of the 
nose,* etc., etc. ; and if the primary disease be severe 
or «constant, or of frequent occurrence, acute or 
chronic disease of the lungs may result. Indeed, I 
am led to the conclusion that the lungs seldom be- 
come disordered in any other manner. The pneu- 
mogastric nerve with its various branches forms a 
close " sympathy " between the brain and the larynx, 
bronchi, lungs, liver, heart and stomach. Is there, 
in reason and common sense, any necessity for argu- 
ment to prove that of all the organs the stomach is 
the most abused ; or rather, that of all our abuses of 
this wonderful temple of the body those inflicted by 



* It is not from habit, simply, that children pick the nose, and half the 
occupants of a drawing-room car, even, devote a sly moment to the same 
inspiring occupation ! Observe the prevalence of red noses, enlarged nos- 
trils, etc., among coffee drinkers and dyspeptics, as well as liquor drinkers. 



CONSUMPTION, 



47 



the medium of the alimentary system are the most 
flagrant and most constant? 

Consider for one moment that the food taken from 
day to day should be plain and simple, and that in 
quality and quantity it should bear a close relation 
to the following circumstances or conditions, viz.: (i) 
to the season and the climate ; (2) to the purity of 
the air habitually breathed ; (3) amount of clothing 
worn ; (4) amount of mental and physical labor per- 
formed ; (5) the existing physical condition as to (a) 
appetite — whether normal or abnormal, as for ex- 
ample, ravenous, fitful or none at all ; (J?) strength — 
whether full, or exhausted from fatigue ; (6) mental 
state — whether the mind is at ease, or from one or 
another cause distressed, as with grief, anger,* etc.; (7) 
the natural constitution — whether delicate or robust. 
How many, let me ask, in any community consider 
any of these conditions, or are to any extent in- 
fluenced by them ? Not that the question is, after 
all, as complicated as would at first sight appear ; on 
the contrary, it is very simple, indeed. We have 
only to clothe ourselves in loose and comfortable 
garments ; keep clean ; breathe out-door air — 
whether we are indoors or out, day and night ;f lead 

* Few causes are more readily promotive of indigestion than the indulgence 
of such emotions, and none presents a greater obstacle to the recovery of a 
consumptive patient than the habitual subjection of the mind to unhappy re- 
flections of whatsoever character. It is especially important for both patient 
and all who approach him to avoid, so far as possible, every disquieting in- 
fluence. 

t "Azotized air affects the lungs as the substitution of excrements for 
nourishing food would affect our digestive organs : corruption sets in ; pul- 
monary phthisis is, in fact, a process of putrefaction. 

" No ventilatory contrivance can compare with the simple plan of opening 



48 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

an active, useful life, rest when tired, never eat with- 
out a good relish, nor, as a rule, when there is " gnaw- 
ing " at the stomach, nor when the body is exhausted 
with fatigue or the mind in a badly disturbed state. 
Eat but twice daily and of the simplest and purest 
food, i.e., the cereal grains, vegetables and fruits. 



a window ; in wet nights a ' rain-shutter ' (a blind with large, overlapping 
bars) will keep a room both airy and dry. In every bedroom, one of the 
upper windows should be kept open night and day, except in storms, accom- 
panied with rain or with a degree of cold exceeding io° Fahr. In warm 
summer nights open every window in the house and every door connecting 
the bedroom with the adjoining apartments. Create a thorough draught. 
Before we can hope to fight consumption with any chance of success, we 
have to get rid of the night-air superstition. Like the dread of cold water, 
raw fruit, etc., it is founded on that mistrust of our instincts which we owe 
to our anti-natural religion. It is probably the most prolific single cause of 
impaired health, even among the civilized nations of our enlightened age, 
though its absurdity rivals the grossest delusions of the witchcraft era. The 
subjection of holy reason to hearsays could hardly go further. 

u ■ Beware of the night-wind ; be sure and close your windows after dark ! ' 
In other words, beware of God's free air ; be sure and infect your lungs with 
the stagnant, azotized, and offensive atmosphere of your bedroom. In other 
words, beware of the rock spring ; stick to sewerage. Is night-air injurious ? 
Is there a single tenable pretext for such an idea ? Since the day of creation 
that air has been breathed with impunity by millions of different animals- 
tender, delicate creatures, some of them — fawns, lambs, and young birds. 
The moist night-air of the tropical forests is breathed with impunity by our 
next relatives, the anthropoid apes — the same apes that soon perish with con- 
sumption in the close though generally well-warmed atmosphere of our 
northern menageries. Thousands of soldiers, hunters, and lumbermen sleep 
every night in tents and open sheds without the least injurious consequences; 
men in the last stage of consumption have recovered by adopting a semi- 
savage mode of life, and camping out-doors in all but the stormiest nights. 
Is it the draught you fear, or the contrast of temperature ? Blacksmiths and 
railroad-conductors seem to thrive under such influences. Draught ? Have 
you never seen boys skating in the teeth of a snow-storm at the rate of 
fifteen miles an hour ? * They counteract the effects of the cold air by vig- 
orous exercise. ' Is there no other way of keeping warm ? Does the north 
wind damage the fine lady sitting motionless in her sleigh, or the pilot and 



CONSUMPTION. 



49 



Ordinarily, a little animal food — unaccompanied by 
greasy or stimulating condiments — will not affect a 
robust person seriously; but it is not essential to 
health, speaking generally, and in depraved condi- 
tions of the system it may be set down as detri- 
mental ; although lean beef or mutton, plainly cooked, 
and served without " seasoning," is doubtless prefera- 
able to bolted flour or impoverished vegetables, whose 
dissipated salts are mistakenly supposed to be " re- 
stored " in the form of artificial salt (see " Saline 
Starvation.") 



helmsman of a storm-tossed vessel ? It can not be the inclemency of the 
open air, for, even in sweltering summer nights, the sweet south wind, 
blessed by all creatures that draw the breath of life, brings no relief to the 
victim of aerophobia. There is no doubt that families who have freed 
themselves from the curse of that superstition can live out and out healthier 
in the heart of a great city than its slaves on the airiest highland of the 
southern Apennines." — ("Physical Education.") 



CHAPTER III. 

CONSUMPTION — {Continued). 

The country boor says he must have meat to make muscle ; and all the 
while his vegetarian team is twitching him and his plow along the furrow. 
Where does he suppose they get their muscles ? — Thoreau. 

Stupidly ignorant, or unmindful, of the fact that 
there are, in this country and Europe, hundreds of 
thousands of people of all ages, sexes and social 
positions, who live year in and year out mainly, and 
a large proportion strictly, on the vegetarian diet, 
and live in health, not only, but found perfect health 
by abandoning the common mixed diet and coming 
nearer to first principles — notwithstanding all this, still 
the farce goes on among the scientists of " proving " 
by chemical analyses, pretty theories and specious 
arguments, that man " can not subsist in health on 
a vegetarian diet." * 

" The matter is this : in a .cold climate we can not 
thrive without a modicum of fat, but that fat need 
not come from slaughtered animals. In a colder 
country than England, the East-Russian peasant, re- 
markable for his robust health and longevity, subsists 



* Jules Virey estimates that four-tenths of the human race subsist exclu- 
sively on a vegetable diet, and that seven-tenths are practically (though not 
on principle) vegetarians. Virchow estimates the total number at eighty-five 
per cent. — Oswald. 

(50) 



CONS UMP TION. 5 1 

on cabbage-soup, rye-bread, and vegetable oils. In a 
colder country than England, the Gothenburg shep- 
herds live chiefly on milk, barley bread, and esculent 
roots. The strongest men of the three manliest races 
of the present world are non-carnivorous : the Tura- 
nian mountaineers of Daghestan and Lesghia, the 
Mandingo tribes of Senegambia, and the Schleswig- 
Holstein Bauern, who furnish the heaviest cuirassiers 
for the Prussian army and the ablest seamen for the 
Hamburg navy. Nor is it true that flesh is an indis- 
pensable, or even the best, brain-food. Pythagoras, 
Plato, Seneca, Paracelsus, Spinoza, Peter Bayle, and 
Shelley were vegetarians ; so were Franklin and Lord 
Byron in their best years. Newton, while engaged in 
writing his 'Principia' and ' Quadrature of Curves/ 
abstained entirely from animal food, which he had 
found by experience to be unpropitious to severe 
mental application. The ablest modern physiologists 
incline to the same opinion. ' I use animal food be- 
cause I have not the opportunity to choose my diet/ 
says Professor Welch, of Yale ; ' but, whenever I 
have abstained from it, I have found my health men- 
tally, morally, and physically better.' " — (" Physical 
Education.") 

With regard to the muscular vigor of vegetarians : 
if they have not become noted as "winners of rowing, 
walking, or boxing matches/' it is chiefly because they 
are rarely sporting men ; besides, they are as yet in 
this country — although their numbers are quite rap- 
idly increasing — in a very small minority ; but, of late, 
since this objection has been so frequently raised, 
vegetarians have entered the lists, notably in England, 



52 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

in bicycle races, and have distanced their meat-eating 
rivals in long races, showing greater staying- powers. 

Says the London Lancet : " In the summer of 1872, 
it became necessary to shift the rails on upwards of 
500 miles of permanent way on the Great Western 
line, from the broad to the narrow gauge, and there 
was only a fortnight to do it in. The work to be got 
through was enormous. About 3,000 men were em- 
ployed, and they worked double time, sometimes from 
four in the morning till nine at night. Not a soul 
was sick, sorry, or drunk, and the work was accom- 
plished on time. What was the extraordinary support 
of this wonderful spurt of muscular strength and 
energy ? Weak oatmeal gruel. There was no beer, 
spirits, or alcoholic drink in any form. Here/' con- 
tinues the Lancet , " is a very old and well-known agent, 
cheap enough, and easily procured, capable of im- 
parting ' staying power ' better, probably, than any- 
thing else, which is not employed to anything like 
the extent it might be with advantage." 

The principal part of the ration allowed in the 
above case was one and one-half pounds of oatmeal. 
In view of the immense labor performed by these 
men on that quantity of this cereal, can it be won- 
dered at that the sedentary dyspeptic who essays to 
" diet " on three full meals of such food comes to 
grief? For him a single moderate meal of grain food, 
with fruit, would be a generous ration. 

To very many the term u vegetarian v seems almost 
to imply one who is restricted to a diet of turnips and 
water. But Epicurus, the god of gluttons, was him- 



CONS UMP TION. 5 3 

self a vegetarian, for while he regarded pleasure as the 
summuvn bonum y and placed the pleasures of the table 
first, still, he knew that a simple fare was most con- 
ducive to health and comfort in this life. As to va- 
riety: "with five kinds of cereals, three legumina, 
eight species of esculent roots, ten or twelve nutritive 
herbs, thirty to forty varieties of tree fruits, besides 
berries and nuts, a vegetarian might emulate the Due 
de Polignac, who refused to eat the same dish more 
than once per season. " 

In view of the constant violations of natural law 
as to quality, quantity and frequency of meals, I 
would say that it is from the nature of the case im- 
possible for people living in the prevailing manner to 
avoid digestive disorders;* in practice I find none al- 



* M I think I shall not be far wrong- if I say that there are few subjects more 
important to the well-being of man than the selection and preparation of his 
food. Our forefathers in their wisdom have provided, by ample and gener- 
ously endowed organizations, for the dissemination of moral precepts in re- 
lation to human conduct, and for the constant supply of sustenance to meet 
the cravings of religious emotions common to all sorts and conditions of 
men. In these provisions no student of human nature can fail to recognize 
the spirit of wisdom and a lofty purpose. But it is not a sign of ancestral 
wisdom that so little thought has been bestowed on the teaching- of what we 
should eat and drink ; that the relations, not only between food and a 
healthy population, but between food and virtue, between the process of 
digestion and the state of mind which results from it, have occupied a sub- 
ordinate place in the practical arrangements of life. No doubt there has 
long been some practical acknowledgment, on the part of a few educated 
persons, of the simple fact that a man's temper, and consequently many ot 
his actions, depends on such an alternative as whether he habitually digests 
his food well or ill ; whether the meals which he eats are properly converted 
into healthy material, suitable for the ceaseless work of building up both 
muscle and brain ; or whether unhealthy products constantly pollute the 
course of nutritive supply. But the truth of that fact has never been gen- 
erally admitted to an extent at all comparable with its exceeding importance. 



54 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

together exempt from them, except the very small 
class of abstemious vegetarians referred to — an in- 
dividual or a family, or two, in each community — all 
others are more or less dyspeptic, and dyspepsia is 
incipient consumption. Thousands of dyspeptics . are 
oblivious as to the true nature of their disorder, 
simply because the most marked symptoms in their 



It produces no practical result on the habits of men in the least degree com- 
mensurate with the pregnant import it contains. For it is certain that an 
adequate recognition of the value of proper food to the individual in main- 
taining a high standard of health, in prolonging healthy life (the prolonga- 
tion of unhealthy life being small gain either to the individual or to the com- 
munity), and thus largely promoting cheerful temper, prevalent good-nature, 
and improved moral tone, would require almost a revolution in the habits 
of a large part of the community. 

" The general outlines of a man's mental character and physical tenden- 
cies are doubtless largely determined by the impress of race and family. 
That is, the scheme of the building, its characteristics and dimensions, are 
inherited ; but to a very large extent the materials and filling in of the 
framework depend upon his food and training. By the latter term may be 
understood all that relates to mental and moral and even to physical educa- 
tion, in part already assumed to be fairly provided for, and therefore not 
further to be considered here. No matter, then, how consummate the 
scheme of the architect, nor how vast the design, more or less of failure to 
rear the edifice results when the materials are ill chosen or wholly unworthy 
to be used. Many other sources of failure there may be which it is no part 
of my business to note ; but the influence of food is not only itself cardinal 
in rank, but, by priority of action, gives rise to other and secondary agencies, 

11 The slightest sketch of the commonest types of human life will suffice 
to illustrate this truth. 

"To commence, I fear it must be admitted that the majority of infants 
are reared on imperfect milk by weak or ill-fed mothers. And thus it fol- 
lows that the signs of disease, of feeble vitality, or of fretful disposition, 
may be observed at a very early age, and are apparent in symptoms of in- 
digestion or in the cravings of want manifested by the ■ peevish ' and sleep- 
less infant. In circumstances where there is no want of abundant nutriment, 
over-feeding or complicated forms of food, suitable only for older persons, 
produce for this infant troubles which are no less grave than those of th* 



CONSUMPTION. 35 

cases, 'now, are affections of the throat and lungs. 
The popular ignorance in this direction amply ac- 
counts for the appalling fact that respiratory diseases 
destroy the lives of about one-third, and consump- 
tion alone one-fifth of all who die in this country. 
When dyspepsia has blossomed into consumption, 
unless the primary disease — that of the stomach and 



former. In the next stage of life, among the poor the child takes his place 
at the parents' table, where lack of means, as well as of knowledge, deprives 

him of food more suitable than the rough fare of the adult On the 

whole, perhaps he is not much worse off than the child of the well-to-do, 
who becomes a pet, and is already familiarized with complex and too solid 
forms of food and stimulating drinks which custom and self-indulgence have 
placed on the daily table. And soon afterward commence in consequence — 
and entirely in consequence, a fact it is impossible too much to emphasize — 
the 'sick-headaches' and 'bilious attacks,' which pursue their victim through 
half a lifetime, to be exchanged for gout or worse at or before the grand 
climacteric. And so common are these evils that they are regarded by peo- 
ple in general as a necessary appanage of ' poor humanity.' No notion can 
be more erroneous, since it is absolutely true that the complaints referred to 
are self-engendered, form no necessary part of our physical nature, and for 
their existence are dependent almost entirely on our habits in relation to food 
and drink. I except, of course, those cases in which hereditary tendencies 
are so strong as to produce these evils, despite some care on the part of the 
unfortunate victim of an ancestor's self-indulgence. Equally, however, on 
the part of that little-to-be-revered progenitor was ill-chosen food, or more 
probably excess in quantity, the cause of disease, and not the physical nature 
of man. 

" The next stage of boyhood transfers the child just spoken of to a public 
school, where too often inappropriate diet, at the most critical period of 
growth, has to be supplemented from other sources. It is almost unneces- 
sary to say that chief among these are the pastry-cook and the vender of 
portable provisions, for much of which latter that skin-stuffed compound of 
unknown origin, an uncertified sausage, may be accepted as the type. 

"After this period arise the temptations to drink, among the youth of all 
classes, whether o.t beer-house, tavern, or club. For it is often taught in 
the bosom of the family, by the father's example and by the mother's pre- 
cept, that wine, beer, and spirits are useful, nay, necessary to health, and 



56 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

intestines — is removed — an impossibility except by a 
radical change from the evil dietetic habits that have 
caused it — nature is powerless to heal the lungs, be- 
cause (i) the inflammation is being perpetually propa- 
gated, and (2) the entire nutritive system is becoming 
more and more hopelessly diseased. 

The stomach, more especially after long years of 



that they augment the strength. And the lessons thus inculcated and too 
well learned were but steps which led to wider experience in the pursuit of 
health and strength by larger use of the same means. Under such circum- 
stances it often happens, as the youth grows up, that a flagging appetite or 
a failing digestion habitually demands a dram before or between meals, and 
that these are regarded rather as occasions to indulge in variety of liquor 
than as repasts for nourishing the body. It is not surprising, with such 
training, that the true object of both eating and drinking is entirely lost 
sight of. The gratification of acquired tastes usurps the function of that 
zest which healthy appetite produces ; and.the intention that food should be 
adapted to the physical needs of the body and the healthy action of the mind 
is forgotten altogether. So it often comes to pass that at middle age, when 
man finds himself in the full current of life's occupations, struggling for 
pre-eminence with his fellows, indigestion has become persistent in some of 
its numerous forms, shortens his 'staying power,' or spoils his judgment 
or temper. And, besides all this, few causes are more potent than an in- 
competent stomach to engender habits of selfishness and egotism. A con- 
stant care to provide little personal wants of various kinds, thus rendered 
necessary, cultivates these sentiments, and they influence the man's whole 
character in consequence." 

" But it is necessary to say at this point, and I desire to say it emphati- 
cally, that the subject of food need not, even with the views just enunciated, 
be treated in an ascetic spirit. It is to be considered in relation to a prin- 
ciple, in which we may certainly believe, that aliments most adapted to de- 
velop the individual, sound in body and mind, shall not only be most accept- 
able but that they may be selected and prepared so as to afford scope for the 
exercise of a refined taste, and produce a fair degree of that pleasure nat- 
urally associated with the function of the palate, and derived from a study 
of the table. For it is certain that nine-tenths of the gormandism which is 
practiced — for the most part a matter of faith without knowledge — is no 
more a source of gratification to the eater's gustatory sense than it is of di- 
gestible sustenance to his body." — "Food and Feeding," by Sir Henry 
Thompson. 



CONSUMPTION. 



57 



abusive treatment, is one of the least sensitive organs. 
"If it had nerves as sensitive as our finger-tips, our 
attention would be so much taken up with the ordi- 
nary digestion of food that we could not properly 
attend to our work or studies." At first, in in- 
fancy, it is mote sensitive, and any excess of food is 
thrown off, but ere many months the disorder grows 
worse and deeper-seated, and in the course of years 
stomachs become so diseased as to give no sign, ex- 
cept when unusually outraged. It may have sores 
without knowing it. Dr. Beaumont saw sores in St. 
Martin's stomach after the latter had drunk liquor, 
but they occasioned no pain. "Cold sores," chapped 
lips, parched or pimpled tongue or mouth, furred 
tongue, etc., etc., a're but signs of serious disease of 
the stomach and intestines, and, consequently, of the 
entire organism. 

I have classed as one of the most natural and effec- 
tive measures for the preservation of health or the 
cure of disease, rest; for diseased organs, rest * 
and light tasks; for the healthy person who desires 
to keep well, I have said, "rest when tired." Un- 
fortunately many people, and more especially con- 
sumptives, never know when they are tired, but work 
habitually, until they are exhausted. With the lat- 
ter, this is usually set down to willfulness or lack of 
judgment. " She won't listen to reason," says the 
anxious husband. " She is always overdoing," says 
another. Jockeys, describing horses thus affected. 



* The various excretory organs, as the bowels, kidneys, liver, as well a 
digestive apparatus, are relieved by fasting, or diminishing the food rat 



58 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

call them " pullers ": it is the same disease — indiges- 
tion. Reason being dethroned by the poisoned cir- 
culation in the brain, Nature, through muscular action, 
essays to excrete the toxic elements. This is stimu- 
lation (see " Coffee. ") 

It is the stimulus imparted by the thrice daily 
ingestion of so many unnatural and indigestible 
articles that compose the mixed diet, which pre- 
vents so many from resting when they are tired. 
With others, however, the effect is quite the reverse : 
some are always complaining of a " tired feeling. " 
There is a genuine lack of vital force occasioned by 
lack of nourishment. When this feeling is experi- 
enced on rising, it is usually, almost invariably, at 
least in part, the effect of close sleeping-rooms. 
Many persons, — some who are fat, and called healthy, 
others, perhaps, lean, — are called "lazy" who are 
positively weak, too weak to work without great 
effort such as lookers-on know nothing about, although 
most people may have had similar feelings occasion- 
ally — the " after-dinner laziness." This special form 
of disease has*previously been spoken of. (See p. 34). 

Nutrition is the grand factor in the prevention or 
cure of disease. It may be said, truly enough, that 
the blood-aerating capacity remains throughout equal, 
often superior, to the \A000\-making capacity ; and 
consumption may be appropriately described as dys- 
peptic starvation. (See " Saline Starvation/') In 
those instances where the capital stock (of vitality) is 
exhausted the victims of this disease must die ; but 
thousands of cases pronounced after a long course 



CONS UMP TION. 5 9 

of medication and stimulation, hopeless, have been 
restored by a simple diet and an out-door life. Even 
hygienic institutes have failed to apply this principle 
in its entirety when brought face to face with cases 
that demanded " heroic treatment;" influenced in 
some measure, possibly, by the popular distrust of 
their methods, especially the deep prejudice against a 
restricted diet — now, however, rapidly disappearing — ■ 
they have hitherto erred continually on the side 
of excess. Nevertheless, they restore to health, or 
greatly benefit, ninety per cent, of the broken down 
invalids who come to them, usually, as ajast resort. 

I desire here to note particularly the change now 
going on in the minds of the most eminent and prac- 
tical physicians in this and European countries, con- 
cerning the use of beef-tea. It is found by chemical 
analysis to be almost identical with " chamber-lye" — 
the favorite prescription of our grandmothers — and 
although more agreeable to the taste than urine, even 
when the latter is drowned in treacle, it is, in my 
opinion, always injurious, especially in sickness, when, 
of course, the excretory system is already taxed to 
the utmost. Most people, even in health, have more 
than they can well do to excrete their own, once, 
without swallowing any portion of the waste of ani- 
mals ! 

Says Dr. Brunton : 

" We find only too frequently that both doctors 
and patients think that the strength is sure to be 
kept up if a sufficient quantity of beef-tea can only 
be got down ; but I think it a question whether beef- 



60 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

tea may not very frequently (?) be actually injurious, 
and whether the products of muscular waste which 
constitute the chief portion of beef-tea, beef-essence, 
or even the beef itself, may not, under certain circum- 
stances, be actually poisonous." 

" In many cases of nervous depression we find a 
feeling of weakness and prostration coming on during 
digestion, and becoming so very marked about the 
second hour after a meal has been taken, and at the 
very time when absorption is going on, that we can 
hardly do otherwise than ascribe it to actual poison- 
ing by digestive products absorbed into the circula- 
tion. From the observation of a number of cases, I 
came to the conclusion that the languor and faintness 
of which many patients complained, and which oc- 
curred about eleven and four o'clock, was due to 
actual poisoning by the products of digestion of 
breakfast and lunch ; but at the time when I arrived 
at this conclusion I had no experimental data to show 
that the products of digestion were actually poisonous 
in themselves ; and only within the last few months 
have I seen the conclusions to which I had arrived 
by clinical observation, confirmed by experiments 
made in the laboratory. Such experiments have 
been made by Professor Albertoni, of Genoa, and by 
Dr. Schmidt-Muhlheim, in Professor Ludwig's labo- 
ratory at Leipsic." 

" Professor Albertoni and Dr. Schmidt-Muhlheim 
independently made the discovery that peptones 
prevented the coagulation of the blood in dogs, and 
the latter, under Ludwig's direction, has also investi- 



CONS UMP TION. 6 1 

gated their action upon the circulation. He finds 
that, when injected into a vein, they greatly depress 
the circulation, so that the blood-pressure falls very 
considerably ; and when the quantity injected is.large, 
they produce a soporose condition, complete arrest 
of the secretion by the kidneys,* convulsions, and 
death. From these experiments it is evident that 
the normal products of digestion are poisons of no 
inconsiderable power, and that if they reach the gen- 
eral circulation in large quantities they may produce 
very alarming, if not dangerous symptoms." 

" Instead of trying to keep up the strength, as it is 
termed, by loading the stomach with food, the ex- 
hausted brain-worker should rather lean toward absti- 
nence from food, and especially toward abstinence 
from alcoholic liquors.f The feeling of muscular 
weakness and lassitude, which I have already had 
occasion to mention as frequently coming on about 
two hours after meals, is not uncommonly met with 
in persons belonging to the upper classes who are 
well fed and have little exercise. It is perhaps seen 
in its most marked form in young women or girls 
who have left school, and who, having no definite 
occupation in life, are indisposed to any exercise, 
either bodily or mental. I am led to look upon this 
condition as one of poisoning, both on account of 
the time of its occurrence, during the absorption of 
digestive products, and by reason of the peculiar 
symptoms — viz., a curious weight in the legs and 



* See u Blight's Disease." \ See chapter on Coffee. 



62 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

arms, the patient describing them as feeling like 
lumps of lead. These symptoms so much resemble 
the effect which would be produced by a poison like 
curare, that one could hardly help attributing them 
to the action of a depressant or paralyzer of motor 
nerves or centers. The recent researches of Ludwig 
and Schmidt-Miihlheim render it exceedingly prob- 
able that peptones are the poisonous agents in these 
cases ; and an observation which I have made seems 
to confirm this conclusion, for I found that the weak- 
ness and languor were less after meals consisting of 
farinaceous food only. My observations, however, 
are not sufficiently extensive to absolutely convince 
me that they are entirely absent after meals of this 
sort, so that possibly the poisoning by peptones, 
although one cause of the languor, is not to be looked 
upon as the only cause."* 

I am able to vouch for a number of cases of con- 
sumption, and marasmus, in which, under tonic treat- 
ment and frequent meals, the patients were steadily 
declining, but which yielded, finally, to the influence 
of the one-meal-a-day system : comparative rest of 
the diseased alimentary organs, and consequent im- 
provement in the digestive and assimilative functions 
proved the needed "stimulant." The Boston 
Journal of Chemistry, of February, 1882, gives the 
history of a well authenticated case, of an old man 
of JO years, who had been declining with pulmonary 
consumption for three years, and who was pro- 



*" Indigestion as a Cause of Nervous Depression." By T. 
Lauder Brunton, M.D., F.R.S., in Practitioner. 



CONS VMP TION. 63 

nounced incurable, who was made convalescent by a 
voluntary and absolute fast of 43 days — taking water 
freely, however, during the time — and, following 
this with the " bread and fruit " diet, was restored to 
health. 

Let us contrast this method of restoring the nutri- 
tive organs with that of " curing " them by medica- 
tion : 

, J. Milner Fothergill, M.D., truly says (in the Prac- 
titioner), that " it is more important to study the 
tongue than to go over the chest with a stethoscope, 
and that attention to the stomach and bowels is just 
as essential as the treatment of night sweats. When 
the tongue is covered with thick fur it is nearly or 
quite useless to give iron or cod-liver oil ; for the 
tongue is the indicator of the state of the intestinal 
canal, and absorption through the thick layer of dead 
epithelial cells is impossible/' And then Dr. Fother- 
gill gives us his method of rasping off the coating, so to 
say, with " a compound calomel and colocynthe pill 
every second night, and a mixture of nitro-hydrochlo- 
ric or phosphoric acid, with infusion of cinchona three 
times a day until the tongue clears." I would suggest 
that nitro-glycerine would act more speedily and reduce 
the suffering to a minimum ! The point, however, to 
dwell upon, — and it is one worthy of the deepest con- 
sideration, — is that the state of the alimentary canal, 
so aptly described by the authority quoted, and which 
forbids the absorption of iron and oil, also prohibits 
the absorption of wholesome substances. Not only 
this; the secretion of the digestive fluids (even sup- 



64 THE NA TURAL CURE OF 

posing for the moment that these fluids are present 
in normal amount and quality in the circulation, which 
is, of course, far from the truth in this as in most dis- 
orders) is in great degree prevented by this same 
physical obstruction, the " thick layer of dead epithe- 
lial cells ;" and, moreover, the secretion of fecal mat- 
ters by the glands of the colon is, in like manner and 
degree, prevented. (See chapter on " Constipation.") 
What have we, then, in summing up, as the effecjt 
of this conservative effort of nature to " iron-sheathe 
and copper-fasten " this most abused alimentary tract, 
if I may thus characterize the coat which has resulted 
from the maltreatment of the digestive organs, and 
but for which the individual would, we may reason- 
ably suppose, have died long ago from some plethoric 
disease ? First : the digestive fluids, being scant and 
scantily secreted, it results that (2) only a small quan- 
tity at best, of the most wholesome food, can be by 
them digested, and (3) absorption from the small in- 
testines is equally difficult, even supposing that the 
appropriate " small quantity " of food possible to be 
digested has not been exceeded, which, in ordinary 
practice, is anything but a supposable case. Excess 
is the invariable rule, and therefore (4) the undigested 
and fermenting food substances, excepting a portion 
which is absorbed in this poisonous condition, make 
their sluggish course along the intestines, collect in 
great masses in the lower bowel, and, finally, (a) either 
by aid of purgative medicines, or theordinary stimulat- 
ing drinks indulged in, (b) the irritating effects of these 
abnormal accumulations themselves, or (c) by means of 



CONS UMP TION. 6 5 

injections, the lower bowel is more or less frequently 
emptied. These extraordinary evacuations are often 
described by the patient or friends as " exhausting.'' 
That such excreta is not composed of true fecal mat- 
ters, we may reasonably conclude from the fact that 
(i) digestion and assimilation are but poorly per- 
formed, and but a very small proportion, therefore, of 
the quantity swallowed (often enough consumptives 
continue large eaters, gauged by any standard, and, 
relatively speaking, this is invariably the rule with 
them) — but a small proportion, I repeat, is absorbed 
into the circulation, and, therefore, undigested food 
must form the chief share of the so-called fecal mat- 
ters, and (2) owing to the heavy fur-coat, lining the 
colon, the secretion of waste matters from the blood 
is, as just stated, well nigh prohibited. 

Hence it results that under the ordinary treatment 
the consumptive patient is hurried out of the world 
by a relative, and, often enough, by an actual, exag- 
*geration of the very practices which originated his 
disorder. Referring once more to Dr. Fothergill's, 
which is, to be sure, the regular drug plan : having 
scoured off the fur, so to say, with drastic purgatives, 
which have, possibly, cut a little too deep ; or when, 
from whatever cause, instead of the furred coat, " the 
tongue is raw, bare, and denuded of epithelium, the 
patient should," he says, " take a mixture of bismuth 
with an alkali and use a milk diet. Seltzer water 
and milk will often agree when the milk alone is 
found to be too heavy and constipating. " Hero we 
have a case analogous to that of the robust gourmand 



66 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

whose dinner of a dozen courses is carried on and out 
by the aid of his " dinner pill," or the free use of 
filthy mineral waters: A cup or two of cow's milk 
(which, at best, is only a natural aliment for the calf, 
and which is too often drawn from a creature herself 
suffering from tuberculosis), is, to the depraved con- 
sumptive, even more " heavy and constipating " than 
the grossest diet indulged in ordinarily, to supposably 
healthy Christians, not to speak of such occasions as 
church festivals or society "breakfasts." One secret 
of the difficulty which besets the hygienist in his 
efforts to prevail upon a consumptive patient to per- 
sist in a course of " natural medication/' after having 
once fairly entered upon it, lies in this : There is nat- 
urally a letting down, at first, from the stimulated 
condition, and this is often discouraging ; the craving 
for the customary stimulants is almost as unappeas- 
able as that of the rum-dyspeptic ; and what makes 
the matter worse with the consumptive than with the 
drunkard, everybody who approaches the former seeks 
to tempt the appetite : or, in any event, the sight, smell, 
and hearing of the " good things " renders abstinence 
from such most difficult ; and then, again, after leaving 
off many objectionable articles of food and drink, and 
having abstained from them for a few months, we will 
say, the transient resumption, always imminent, of the 
use of forbidden fruit operates with renewed force, 
and the patient finds himself, as he thinks, " gaining a 
little," and he is thus encouraged to fall back, more or 
less gradually, into all his old practices. Coffee, for 
example, — which originally proved constipating, after 



CONS UMP TION 67 

its first (laxative) effects ceased, — having been ab- 
stained from for some months, is now found to 
" agree " with and even " help" the patient, who, be- 
ginning with a single small cup at breakfast, works up 
finally to two at each meal .; and, altogether, things go 
on swimmingly for a time. Again, after a period of 
abstinence from flesh-food, pastry, spices, etc. — to 
guard against which nature has put the fur-coat upon 
the intestines, or, perhaps, it should be said that the 
wear and tear occasioned by all unwholesome articles 
introduced into the stomach, have produced an effect 
somewhat analogous to the thickened cuticle result 
ing from the constant chafing of an ill-fitting shoe, 
for example, — as the intestinal tract begins to acquire 
something of its normal condition, there is a point 
when the resumption of a "generous" diet, in which 
the aforesaid substances figure largely, will seem to 
give the patient a fresh impulse healthward : they 
once more, perhaps, produce the laxative effects simu- 
lating that most desirable state of the bowels called 
" regular." And so on to the end of the chapter, the 
patient, friends, and perhaps the medical adviser, are 
misled as to the real state of affairs, until, finally, the 
end approaches, and the patient who was " improving 
so nicely" grows worse, and, after a period of intense 
suffering, which weans him from all desire to live, 
and reconciles his friends to the change, dies. " He 
catched cold, it settled on his lungs, and in his weak 
state " — etc., etc. 

Speaking in round terms, the consumptive's diges- 
tive ability is about on a par, usually, indeed, interior 



68 THE NA TURAL CURE OF 

to his muscular powers ; and it is as irrational to ex- 
pect him to digest and assimilate several meals a day, 
as to expect him to saw several cords of wood in the 
same length of time. Both are alike impossible. 
The fact that the food disappears, or that there is a 
craving for it, even, or, again, that it " seems to agree 
with the stomach," does not change the case. A 
little food of the simplest sort may be assimilated, a 
little muscular exercise may be taken, and both 
prove curative. In common practice, however, the 
alimentary system is taxed to its own exhaustion and 
the impairment of the entire organism, while the 
voluntary muscular system deteriorates by reason of 
non-use as well as from the general lack of nutrition. 
A very grave error, however, is sometimes made — 
of taking too much exercise ; that is, of beginning 
the change too abruptly. Whatever the state of 
one's general health, he can only do with advantage 
about what he has habitually done. If he has all 
along lived a very active life and is in his usual 
health, he can take a good deal of exercise without 
harm, even with advantage ; if, on the other hand, 
his life is sedentary, but little can be taken — beyond 
the current amount — without doing more harm than 
good. In either case, however, there may be a 
gradual increase of muscular exercise, and for many 
of the latter class this would prove life conserving, 
(if persisted in as a habit of life), but spasmodic 
efforts at building up a muscular system will always 
fail ; nature does nothing in that fashion. The rule 
should be to exercise a little short of fatigue, and it 



CONS UMP TION. 69 

should be increased little by little each day, " until 
the labor of working accommodates itself to easy 
habits/' This rule would leave for some consump- 
tive patients, at first, only the passive exercise of 
having their muscles pressed by their attendant's 
hand, or a gentle walk for a short distance, and so on. 
*' Combinedwith a hectic flush of the face, night- 
sweats, or general emaciation, shortness of breath 
leaves no doubt that the person thus affected is in the 
first stage of pulmonary consumption. If the patient 
were my son, I should remove the windows of his 
bedroom, and make him pass his days in the open 
air — as a cow-boy or berry-gatherer, if he could do 
no better. In case the disease had reached its deli- 
quium period, the stage of violent bowel-complaints, 
dropsical swellings, and utter prostration,* it would be 
better to let the sufferer die in peace; but, as long as 
he were able to digest a frugal meal and walk two 
miles on level ground, I should begin the outdoor 
cure at any time of the year, and stake my own life on 
the result. I should provide him with clothing enough 
to defy the vicissitudes of the seasons, and keep him 
outdoors in all kinds of weather — walking, riding, or 
sitting ; he would be safe : the fresh air would pre- 
vent the progress of the disease. But improve he 
could not without exercise. Increased exercise is the 
price of increased vigor. Running and walking stool 
the leg-sinews. In order to strengthen his wrist-joints 
a man must handle heavy weights. Almost any 



* The fasting consumptive referred to on page 62 had already approached 
this condition. — Author. 



70 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

bodily^exercise — but especially swinging, wood-chop- 
ping, carrying weights, and walking up-hill — increases 
the action of the lungs, and thus gradually their func- 
tional vigor. Gymnastics that expand the chest facil- 
itate the action of the respiratory organs, and have 
the collateral advantage of strengthening the sinews, 
and invigorating the system in general, by accelerat- 
ing every function of the vital process. The expo- 
nents of the movement-cure give a long list of ath- 
letic evolutions, warranted to widen out the chest as 
infallibly as French-horn practice expands the cheeks. 
But the trouble with such machine-exercises is that 
they are almost sure to be discontinued as soon as 
they have relieved a momentary distress, and, as Dr. 
Pitcher remarks in his ' Memoirs of the Osage In- 
dians,' the symptoms of consumption (caused by 
smoking and confinement in winter quarters) disap- 
pear during their annual buffalo-hunt, but reappear 
upon their return to the indolent life of the wigwam. 
The problem is to make outdoor exercise pleasant 
enough to be permanently preferable to the far niente 
whose sweets seem especially tempting to consump- 
tives. This purpose accomplished, the steady prog- 
ress of convalescence is generally insured, for the 
differences of climate, latitude, and altitude, of age 
and previous habits, almost disappear before the ad- 
vantages of an habitual outdoor life over the healthiest 
indoor occupations." — (" Physical Education.") 

I would not be understood, by any means, as ad 
vising every consumptive patient, or every one who 
supposes himself to be suffering from this disease, to 



CONS UMP TION. 7 1 

immediately and without advice stop eating; but 
this much I do say: in all cases of progressive 
emaciation, that is to say, where the organs of di- 
gestion and assimilation have become so impaired 
that the body is not nourished, but is steadily de- 
clining, the attending physician should consider the 
question of temporary rest for the alimentary organs, 
so far as the ingestion of food is concerned. The 
presence even of a craving appetite should be treated 
as a morbid symptom, and should weigh in favor of 
abstinence. It should also be borne in mind that the 
earlier this remedy is applied the smaller will be the 
" dose " indicated, and the more speedy and com- 
plete the relief. Had Mr. Connolly, for example — 
whose cure by fasting I have already alluded to — at 
any time during his first few months of " pressure 
at the lungs, with cough and expectoration, " fasted 
for a week or ten days,"* perhaps, under the care 
of a physician sufficiently intelligent to judge of 
his needs in this direction, and had he thereafter 
lived on the plain diet which he now finds so com- 
plete, he would in all probability have escaped the 
illness which followed, and would have enjoyed 
uninterrupted health to the present day. Again, if 
he had changed his manner of living five years 
earlier — from three " mixed " meals f of stimulating 

* It is evident that such a fast, then^ would have proved, so far as the 
danger of starvation is concerned, a mere bagatelle, since three years Liter, 
as we have seen, — years of decline and emaciation, — he endured, and, with 
advantage, a fast of over six weeks. 

t A return to his old diet now would probably make short work of this 
subject, and should I hear of his early death, my first inquiry would relate 
to this point. 



72 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

food, as flesh and the irritating condiments invari- 
ably associated with animal food; pastry, white flour, 
and stimulating drinks, as tea and coffee — to two 
meals composed of the cereals, vegetables and fruits, 
prepared in the simplest and plainest manner, there 
would have been no call for a fast. I have the means 
of knowing of over five thousand families in this country 
alone w r ho have made this change for preventive 
and curative purposes, and with the happiest results. 
I would say that any person who finds his appetite 
failing or fitful — sometimes poor, sometimes craving 
— and who has reason to fear the decline of his 
nutritive powers, will do well to make a radical 
change in his habits of living; and the sooner the 
better. The most pernicious custom of which I 
have any knowledge, yet one almost universal in the 
care of the sick, is that of " tempting the appetite," 
concocting fancy or especially toothsome dishes, 
when nature is saying in the plainest manner that 
feeding has already been overdone. Such prepara- 
tions are a severe tax upon even robust persons — they 
are fatal to consumptives. It is infinitely worse than 
bribing an exhausted laborer, who can scarcely move a 
muscle, to rouse himself to fresh tasks. He will do 
more and better work by reason of present and ab- 
solute rest ; and the same is true of the sick stom- 
ach : there will be a relish for the coarsest article of 
diet — aye, it will be delicious — and digestion will 
wait on appetite, when the nutritive organs shall 
have been restored by sufficient rest. The experi- 
ments of Tanner at New York, Griscomb at Chicago, 



CONS UMP TION. 7 3 

and now of Terrence Connolly (the consumptive 
faster) at Newton, N. J., have, I believe, demon- 
strated the fact that, in health or in sickness, in all 
cases of abstinence from all food, saving only water 
and pure air, of whatever disease the subject may 
die, it will not be for want of food, so long as there 
remains any considerable amount of flesh* on his bones. 
By the light of these experiences we shall do well, 
too, to study more closely the functions of the lym- 
phatic system : human flesh, by absorption, consti- 
tutes a most appropriate diet in certain conditions of 
disease (see article on rheumatism). The absorption 
and excretion of diseased tissues is, under some cir- 
cumstances, the only work that nature can with safety 
undertake, and in these cases no building up can be 
accomplished until a solid foundation is reached and 
the debris removed ; and not then unless, while this 
good work is going on, the nutritive organs are given an 
opportunity to virtually renew themselves. 

Dr. Tanner, in his forty days* fast, lost about fifty 
pounds in weight. Mr. Griscomb lost a little more 
than that in his fast of forty-five days ; and although 
moving about, taking more exercise every day than 
many sedentary people, and attending to a large cor- 
respondence, etc., was still able to say to the audience 
assembled to see him break his fast : " Ladies and 



*The amount " consumed " in the case of Mr. Connolly from day to day. 
was very slight indeed, scarcely more than before he left off eating ; that is, 
it was observed that his emaciation was no more rapid during the fast tha- 
immediately prior thereto; before the fast his food was not being digested 

nor assimilated, and he was taking purgatives continually for torpid bowels. 



74 



THE NATURAL CURE OF 



gentlemen, you see now a man who has swallowed no 
food, except water, for forty-five days, and yet I can 
assure you that I am neither faint nor hungry; but I 
shall soon convince you that I have an excellent ap- 
petite/* and, so saying, he proceeded to partake of a 
very moderate dinner, and in moderate fashion. It 
is commonly supposed that these are uncommon 
men : they are uncommon only in possessing a knowl- 
edge as to the power of the living organism to with- 
stand abstinence from food, and in having the courage 
of their opinions. And yet, when discussing the ad- 
vantages of the two-meal system, uninformed people 
talk about " getting faint if they go so long " without 
nourishment ! They speak from the three-meal-fish- 
flesh-fowl and pickle standpoint ; accustomed to ap- 
plying a hot poultice to a gnawing, sick stomach every 
few hours, they do get faint if the time runs over a 
single hour. 

These various fasts, with the lessons to be drawn 
from them, must prove, finally, of inestimable value 
to science in the treatment of disease, where it may 
be desirable to rest all the viscera, or any portion 
thereof, concerned in digestion,* or to " close the bow- 

* An eminent Maine statesman has recently died, who might have recov- 
ered and lived for years, but for the mistaken theory that food is a daily 
need under all circumstances : To constantly feed an irritated stomach is 
like kicking a man when he is down. And yet this is being done with fatal 
effect constantly all over the world. In certain cases, and especially with 
aged patients, this system is as surely fatal as strychnine, if less speedy. 
There are many besides myself who believe that President Garfield died 
from fatty degeneration, chronic dyspepsia, and constant feeding during his 
illness, rather than from the effects of the bullet. True enough, he might 
have lived on for years in his disordered physical condition but for the 



CONSUMPTION., 



75 



els y for certain surgical operations, without resorting 
to injurious medication, and also — a very important 
consideration — in cases of enforced abstinence, as in 
time of famine or shipwreck, to prevent death from 
fright and discouragement, which have heretofore 
killed scores where actual starvation has one. 

As illustrating the influence of an out-door life, 
with partial or transient fasting, I will cite 

THE. CASE OF MR. VICKERS. 

Joseph Vickers, born and raised in England, but 
now of Biddeford, Me., whose home is near my own, 
and the man himself well known to me, was very "low 
with consumption " at one time, when in his twenty- 
second year. His disease was attributed, and without 
doubt justly, to a severe chill resulting from wading 
the river on one of his hunting bouts, and being com- 
pelled to dry his clothes on his back — a feat he had 
previously performed repeatedly, except that on this 
occasion, being very much fatigued, and night 
coming on, instead of continuing vigorous exer- 
cise while his clothes were drying, he "went into 
camp " and " shivered throughout the night in his 
soaked garments." Declining very rapidly, with 
every symptom of pulmonary consumption, his case 



wound ; still, on the other hand, it is equally probable that he might have 
lived, and that his sickness would have restored him to health even, but for 
the constant tampering with his stomach, which needed rest as much as the 
great and good man himself. No rest for the stomach, no rest for the man, 
is an axiom which I would submit to my brother practitioners, as one worthy 
of all acceptation. It is being constantly proved right before their own eves, 
and yet very few have learned the lesson it teaches. 



y6 THE. NATURAL CURE OF 

was considered hopeless by his friends. Medicine 
seeming to him useless, he gave up taking it, and 
his physician consequently gave him no encourage- 
ment or hope of recovery. His digestion was very 
imperfect — as he. put it, " Nothing I ate seemed to do 
me any good " — and to the disgust of his parents and 
friends he often refused to eat anything for an entire 
day. Able to be up and dressed a good portion of 
the time, he would spend as much of the day out- 
doors as possible, and at night " never slept without 
a window open in the bed-room." Gaining a little 
strength, and being " badgered," as he says, "all the 
time, when at home, about eating," and being very 
fond of hunting, and not sleeping well, he would rise 
very early, take his gun and, as he expressed it, would 
"crawl off to the woods," and sit or lie down until 
rested, and then " travel a bit and rest again," and so 
spend the entire day, taking no lunch, and eating noth- 
ing, drinking from a brook or a spring when thirsty, 
returning at night, often as late as seven or eight 
o'clock, when he would eat a little coarse food after 
resting, and then go to bed. " A couple of weeks " 
of this sort of life sufficed to bring him home at night 
with an " appetite for a side of sole-leather," and he 
would eat a hearty supper — always of the plainest 
food — and soon go to bed. From this point his re- 
covery was as rapid as his decline had been. His 
diet has always been of the plainest sort, mostly veg- 
etable (a large proportion of coarse bread and fruit), — 
" My drink is always cold water, and I let the rest of 
the family eat all the fancy stuff," he remarked. Mr. 



CONS UMP TION. y 7 

Vickers, — who is a devout Christian man, and his 
story corroborated in every feature by others as relia- 
ble, — is now sixty-six years old, though he appears 
like a robust, well-preserved man of fifty. 

Excepting under very aggravated conditions, as for 
example, the case of Mr. Vickers, given above, 
rarely does any creature ever begin to have con- 
sumption with a sound stomach, liver, and intestines. 
Nor can the digestive organs become diseased, or- 
dinarily, so long as the diet and general regimen are 
even approximately correct. If we thought more of 
what would " tickle " the stomach and intestines than 
the palate, simply, we would banish most of our dis- 
orders ; pure air, active exercise, a clear conscience, and 
the cultivation of a spirit of cheerfulness, kindliness, 
and contentment, would send the balance a-flying. 
Upon the importance of cheerfulness, a recent writer, 
a physician with a large practice, and a man of keen 
perceptions, says : " One of the most important direc- 
tions of all is personal and subjective. Cultivate with 
the utmost force possible the habit of cheerfulness. 
No words can put this out with the strength and 
weight which I should be glad to give to it. Its value 
is utterly beyond estimation. The difference between 
meeting the common, or uncommon, trials of life with 
cheerfulness or with despondency, and perhaps com- 
plaint and grumbling, is often just the difference be- 
tween life and death." 

The appetite for "sweets" — candy, syrup, sugar, 
and fancy dishes deluged with sweet sauces — en- 
couraged to an abnormal degree from infancy, and 



78 THE NA TURAL CURE OF 

the gratification of this appetite throughout life are 
prolific aids in establishing the phthisical diathesis. 
There is a natural appetite for sweet fruits and this 
demand may be safely met by such forms of food, but 
never by the unbalancing artificial sweets, or proxi- 
mate principles of food, as cane or beet sugar and the 
"bon-bons" formed from them. 

Victor Hugo, — that grand man who gave us u Les 
Miser ables" — in the first volume of the series, puts 
this bit of physiological wisdom into the mouth of the 
witty libertine, Tholomyes, w r ho uses it, to be sure, in 
a double sense, which I need not here explain : " Now, 
listen attentively ! " says this oracle of the " four." 
" Sugar is a salt. Every salt is desiccating. Sugar is 
the most desiccating of all salts. It sucks up the liq- 
uids from tfie blood through the veins; thence comes 
the coagulation, then the solidification of the blood ; 
thence the tubercles in the lungs ; thence death. 
And this is why diabetes borders on consumption." 
I commend the above thought to consumptives, and 
to the parents of fat children — the consumptives of 
the future. Every grain of artificial sugar swallowed, 
constitutes a tax upon the system — upon the lungs 
land kidneys, more particularly — a tax upon the indi- 
vidual's vitality. 

Among the prolific causes of consumption in after 
life, is that of the involuntary cramming and fatten- 
ing of infancy, followed up during childhood and 
youth by a somewhat less excessive gluttony, which 
is taught inferentially by the conversation and exam- 
ple of the elders, as by constantly dwelling upon the 



CONSUMPTION. 



79 



delights of the palate, arranging entertainments which 
are feasts of the body, rather than of the mind, in ad- 
vance of which all classes discuss with excess of inter- 
est the palatal pleasures of the coming " good time," 
and at which all unite, if not in gorging themselves, 
at least in feeding themselves for pleasure to the dis- 
regard of the true requirements of their bodies for 
nutriment. 

As a result of all this, sedentary persons become, 
like stall-fed oxen, degenerated with fat ; and this, as 
just remarked about children, is a predisposing cause 
of consumption. A very large proportion of con- 
sumptives, most of them, in fact, are first thus dis- 
eased ; and when any person is round and plump, or 
even fairly covered, so to say, and is yet lacking in 
muscular power — " easily tired " — it is prima facie 
evidence that the muscular system is degenerated in 
the manner described ; and if the muscles, then the 
vital organs within, also. Thus we observe that 
grossness is by no means essential to fatty degener- 
ation, although all obese persons are, of course, thus 
affected. 

The salary of a fireman (" coal heaver ") depends 
upon his intelligence in the matter of fuelling up his 
engine with a view to its " health," power and lon- 
gevity ; that of the cook or caterer, upon his ingenu- 
ity in devising means to accomplish the reverse of all 
this in the case of the human engine placed at his 
mercy. 

" A well-spread board" should be described as one 
at which the youngest child (whose teeth are cut) may 



80 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

exercise his will without let or hindrance until, at the 
first indication of dallying, or " loafing/' over his food, 
it is evident that he has had enough ; and at which 
the consumptive may eat without being tempted to 
overindulge, but, paying heed to the first intimation 
of satiety, rise from the table with the assurance of 
having performed an agreeable duty, in that he has 
eaten in quantity and quality, what he can digest and 
assimilate. The consumptive starves, not for want of 
food, but for want of digestion and assimilation. It is 
impossible to emphasize this fact too strongly. 

The Scientific American of June 3, 1882, in an arti- 
cle entitled " Tubercle Parasite/' * considering Dr. 



* Microscopic examination reveals the presence of a multiplicity of fatty 
crystals throughout the . substance of the lungs of persons who have died of 
consumption. At a recent meeting of the New Orleans Pathological Society, 
its President, Dr. H. D. Schmidt, whose researches have been extended and 
minute, made an important microscopical demonstration to disprove Prof. 
Koch's so-called discovery as to the bacilli of tuberculosis. Prof. Schmidt 
claimed to demonstrate that the so-called bacilli, thought by Dr. Koch to be 
the cause of consumption, were simply fatty crystals. Connecting with this 
the fact that Prof. Koch really found certain minute living organisms which 
he propagated artificially for several generations, it becomes evident to my 
mind (i) that the "bacillus" is simply a natural scavenger enveloped in the 
diseased tissue — the fatty crystal, or the tubercle — and (2) that its office is 
really, under the circumstances, conservative to life. Nor is this conclusion 
disproved by the alleged fact that the inoculation with the bacilli, of suppos- 
ably healthy animals, produced the disorder : In the first place, the little do- 
mestic pets, such as were thus operated upon, are always, owing to their 
artificial surroundings, predisposed to the disease in question, frequently 
falling victims to it without the aid of inoculation, and (3) this being the 
case, their inoculation with a liberal reinforcement of greedy vermin, — or, 
supposing that, as yet, none were generated, their premature introduction, — 
would naturally tend to a speedy and fatal termination. It makes no differ- 
ence to a dead man whether his lungs were devoured by bacilli, or simply 
broken down from fatty degeneration ; but to the living, it is a matter of the 
utmost importance to learn the true condition of things in the premises. 



CONS UMP TION. 8 1 

Koch's theory, says : " According to Dr. Salisbury, 
this disease (consumption) is one arising from ' con- 
tinued unhealthy alimentation, and must be treated 
by removing the cause. This cause is fermenting 
food and the products of this fermentation, viz. : alco- 
holic yeast and alcohol, vinegar yeast and acetic 
acid, carbonic acid gas, embolism, and interference 
with nutrition. Consumption of the bowels can be 
produced at any time in the human subject in from 
fifteen to thirty days, and consumption of the lungs 
inside of ninety days, by special, exclusive, and con- 



The idea of being eaten alive by myriads of little vermin from which there 
is supposably no escape, is enough to strike terror to the mind of a patient ; 
but let him know that his disease is of such a nature that (with the aid of 
the bacilli, perhaps,) a radical change in his manner of living affords great 
assurance for the hope of its entire eradication, and he has at once an all- 
sufficient motive for reform. 

Dr. J. Milner Fothergill, in a letter to the Philadelphia Medical Times, 
referring to Koch's theory of the origin of tuberculosis, remarks, half jocose- 
ly : " Talk of the bitterness of death ! It is nothing to the shadowy danger 
which overhangs us of a tubercle-bacillus getting into one's pulmonary alveoli 
in an unguarded moment, and when one's ' resistive power ' happens to be 
impaired. Shadowy in the sense of invisible, not unreal ! Is this what is 
meant by * the doom of a great city ' ? Is the bacillus a relative of the poison- 
germ which slew Sennacherib's host in a night ? We do not yet know the 
little creature intimately enough to say. But, really, the horrors which the 
mind conjures up of the dangers of the bacillus in the future are demoralizing. 
Suppose, now, that some change of the human constitution should favor the 
bacillus, just as the potato-field did the Colorado beetle, who had been hap- 
pily quiet in his dietary of the leaves of the deadly nightshade, but who went 
on the war-path when the leaves of the other members of the Solanacea? came 
within his reach. The imagination fails to conceive what may be the fate 
of man, — to be slain by a foe more remorseless than any of the plagues of 
Egypt. Suppose, now, that the bacillus took such a new departure, and cot 
ahead of our 'resistive power.' Why, man would be swept otf the face of 
the earth ! What an ignominious end, too ! Man, in the plenitude of his 
power over the forces of nature, slain by an insignificant little bacillus ! " 



82 THE NA TURAL CURE OF 

tinued feeding upon the diet that produces them — 
that is, food containing starch and sugar in alcoholic 
and acetic acid fermentation/ " Dr. Salisbury had 
found this embryonic form of the vinegar yeast in 
the blood, sputa, and excretions of persons suffering 
with consumption. In the blood the plant forms 
masses by itself, grows inside the white corpuscles, 
causes the fibrin filaments of the blood to be larger 
in size and stronger, the red corpuscles to be ropy, 
sticky, adhesive, making small clots or " thrombi, " 
which become "emboli" or plugs, and block up the 
capillaries and blood-vessels. The growth of the vin- 
egar yeast in its embryonal stage, combined with the 
mechanical interference with nutrition, causes ab- 
normal growths in the substance of organs, called 
tubercle ; and the concurrent inflammatory results, in 
addition to the chemical action of the vinegar or 
acetic acid, causes the death and breaking down of 
the organs invaded — the lungs, for example. That 
this is not opinion only is shown by the fact that 
over 246 swine were, at his instance, destroyed by 
feeding on farinaceous food in a state of alcoholic 
and vinegar fermentation, the vinegar yeast traced in 
the blood, found in the excretions, and 104 of the 
dead swine were subjected to post-mortem examina- 
tions and their lungs found broken down and dis- 
eased as in ordinary consumption. The same experi- 
ment was tried on a number of men, " all healthy, 
and with no vegetations in the blood. They were 
given plenty of exercise in the open air," but within 
three months these men had consumption of the 



CONS UMP TION. 8 3 

lungs. "Certainly," says the Scientific American, 
" we think the evidence submitted shows that Dr. 
Salisbury has come n.earer to the real intimate nature 
of consumption than Dr. Koch or any one we know. 
There is a simplicity, directness, breadth, and posi- 
tiveness rarely seen in the treatment of a medical 
subject. Indeed, it is doubtful if there have been 
experiments so conclusive and extensive before or 
since." It must be evident to even the crudest 
thinker that this fermenting process must ultimately 
produce the same effects when begun in the stomach, 
and described as indigestion ; and no more efficient 
means of initiating this process can be imagined than 
that of swallowing indigestible substances — the most 
wholesome food-substances may be prepared in such 
a manner as to render them indigestible — or eating 
in excess of the needs of the organism, and therefore 
of the capacity for digestion. Thousands upon thou- 
sands of so-called healthy people are in this way ap- 
proaching the point of decline, more or less slowly, 
but surely, utterly unconscious of their danger, simply 
because in their ignorance they can not recognize the 
premonitory symptoms, of which chronic constipation, 
for example, is one, and a very grave one. (See 
article on this subject.) 

After all, excess in diet is, usually, only another 
term for lack of fresh air and exercise, without which 
no one can become, or continue, robust. While it is 
true that to command health and muscular vigor one 
must be well fed, still no amount of food alone can 
make the right arm like that of a blacksmith. But 



84 THE NA TURAL CURE OF 

we can make the muscles grow on ample exercise and 
■ — food enough ; always, however, considering a con- 
stant supply of oxygen as an essential element in the 
ration. The muscular system wastes — with many is 
never even tolerably developed — the powers wane, 
because of sedentary habits. " Inaction contravenes 
the supreme design of the human constitution, and is 
therefore adverse to its health." — HUXLEY. The 
lungs begin to take on disease, often, because the in- 
dividual does nothing to make him breathe deep ; ex- 
ercise is not frequent and vigorous* enough to cause 
frequent deep inspirations ; the remote air-cells are in 
many instances seldom, and with corset -wearers 
never > inflated, and, consequently, the tendency is to 
grow together, so to say, or, rather, to fester and 
slough off, as useless appendages. To form the habit 
of taking long breaths in the open air, occasionally, 
throughout the day, would do much to maintain 
the integrity of lung-tissue, aerate the blood and 
prevent or cure consumption ; but, after all, Nature 
designs that creatures who inhabit this earth shall 
be " fit " for something besides drawing their own 
breath.f To be " fit to survive " one must be of use in 
the world ; hence there must be employment that taxes 
the mental, moral, and physical forces sufficiently to 
stimulate their growth and development. This, and 
nothing short of this, is health, in the complete sense 



* In a badly vitiated atmosphere inaction is the only palliative ; muscular 
exercise causes a demand for an increased supply of oxygen, and increases 
the amount of carbonic acid to be eliminated, neither of which conditions 
can be met except by means of pure air. 

t See note i in Appendix, p. 275. 



CONS UMP TION. 8 5 

of the term. Robust health, if one would secure it, 
demands that one should be much in the open air 
and exposed, often, to a low temperature while taking 
a great deal of vigorous exercise. To be long-lived, on 
the other hand, requires rather that the diet be re- 
stricted to correspond with abstinence from labor and 
cold, some degree of exercise in the open air, however, 
being essential. The robust often wear out faster than 
the brain workers, whose lives are rather on the quiet 
order. Worry kills ten where work kills one. 

The best illustration of the natural means of pre- 
venting, or curing, consumption — in fact, of promot- 
ing and maintaining health, under any circumstances 
— I have ever seen, is given in the following true 
story of 

HOW A YOUNG GIRL CURED HERSELF. 

" Then you are surprised to learn that I came with- 
in six weeks of dying of consumption, thirty years 
ago, are you, doctor? " The questioner was a bright, 
healthy little woman of fifty who, in the course of a 
consultation abput a consumptive niece, had ex- 
pressed herself as having little hope of her recovery, 
u because she wouldn't do as I did when I had the 
disease — and she isn't nearly as sick as 1 was." 
Straight as an arrow, active and merry, looking more 
like forty than fifty, Mrs. E. was the last person that 
any one would select as belonging to a " consumptive 
family," or of having suffered with the disease, in her 
own person, and yet her mother died of it when this 
daughter was about 19, and the latter s decline was 



86 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

attributed to inherited tendency and long confinement 
in the sick-room, during the last year of her mother's 
life. " Yes, I have told Lettie how I cured myself 
after the doctors gave me up, but she will not under- 
take it — not now, at least — perhaps she may when she 
gets where I was. Do you want me to give you my 
recipe for the cure of consumption, Doctor? Tell you 
the whole story? Well, the way is simple, and the 
story a short one, and if it will help any one I shall 
be very glad. I needn't tell you all about mother's 
case — hers was the old-fashioned consumption ; she 
was sick a good many years, but the last year she was 
almost helpless and would have no one but me to 
take care of her. Well, I bore up until she died, and 
then I gave out ; I could not go to the grave — I was 
in bed during the funeral. I had not realized — none 
of the family had — how poorly I had become ; but 
now it was plain enough. I kept my bed most of the 
time — could not get rested. I had been sick several 
weeks when my brother was brought home ill, was 
taken with typhoid fever, and there was no one to 
nurse him. I roused myself up and declared that 
I was able to do it ; and I carried the point, in 
spite of all father could say. Well, he was sick nine 
weeks, but I gave up before he recovered. I carried 
him through the worst of it, however, before I took 
my bed ; and then I was very sick indeed. For a 
while they thought I could live but a few weeks, but 
I rallied and got more comfortable. I raised a great 
deal, and for several months remained about the same, 
apparently ; but the autumn came, and when we be- 



CONSUMPTION. 87 

gan to shut the house up I seemed to grow worse ; 
my cough was still very bad, but I couldn't i raise ' 
much, and I suffered, terribly for breath. The doctor 
who had been attending me — the one who had tended 
mother — at last said he could do no more for me, and 
for some months we had no physician, and then 
father called a new one— a young doctor who was fit- 
ting himself for practice in our village. He came to 
see me, examined my lungs, and I fainted away in the 
effort. He went out — leaving no medicine— and had 
a talk with father. He said that he did not care to 
take the case ; that there was no hope for me ; my 
lungs were badly ulcerated, and I had but few weeks 
to live. L She can't live over six weeks,* Mr. B., and 
she may die any day. I am young, just commencing 
practice, and it will injure me to have her die on my 
hands : and I can not help her/ * At least/ said father, 
'give her something to relieve her suffering/ They 
did not know that I could hear them ; but spring-time 
had come again, the day was quite warm, and I had 
asked to have the window raised at the head of my 



* It is, of course, idle to speculate as to whether Miss B. was within six 
weeks, or six months, of a fatal termination of her disease, under the usual 
treatment. Her physician expressed his honest opinion, certainly ; though 
had he been catechised closely, he would doubtless have modified it some- 
what, as, by saying that while she was liable to be taken off at any time, 
still, she might linger along several months, or until severe cold weather in 
winter, the season usually so fatal to this class of patients, — not because it is 
impossible, or even difficult, to keep the sick-room at any desired tempera- 
ture, but because this end is sought to be accomplished, largely, by shutting 
out " the breath of life," and by retaining the vitiated air, to breathe which 
would " chill" the healthiest subject. " To retain foul air for the sake of 
its warmth is expensive economy." 



88 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

bed, and so it happened that I could hear all they 
said. I heard the doctor returning, and I resolved 
not to take any of his soothing drops ; I had taken 
all I meant to. 'Well/ said I, 'what have you come 
back for, doctor?* 'Your father wished me to pre- 
scribe for you,' said he. ' Never mind/ I said, firmly, 
' I shall take nothing more. You say I have six weeks 
to live : I will spend them in getting rid of the med- 
icines I have taken the past year/ and he went away. 
Soon father came in, seeming much disappointed and 
grieved, and in answer to his questioning, I told him 
why I had determined to take no more medicine, and 
what I had resolved to do ; and now I will tell you 
what I did, and how I came to do it. I had read in 
an old English almanac — not a medical one, like the 
ones strewn about everywhere now, but there was a 
good deal of useful information in it — a ' Sure Cufe 
for Consumption/ and it was so different from what 
I had been doing, and appealed so strongly to my 
judgment, that I had been thinking that if I could 
only make a start there might be a chance for me ; 
but the effort required was so great that I doubt if I 
should have had courage enough to undertake it but 
for my resentment, upon overhearing that conversa- 
tion — to think that the doctors had given me nothing 
but medicine, and that I had been eating in such a 
way — without any appetite, except for some of the 
' rich ' things they were always making because I 
couldn't relish anything else. The recipe explained 
that the disease was caused by lack of fresh air, out- 
door exercise, and appropriate food ; but I will only 



CONS UMP TION. 89 

tell you what I. did, and you will understand all about 
the reasons 'for it. First, I told father and the rest of 
the family that as I had but six weeks to live, they 
must let me have my own way in everything, and 
must do as I said. I could not move from the bed 
alone, but I had them carry me on a comforter out 
• on the lawn and lay me down there. ' How was /to 
take exercise — when I could scarcely turn myself in 
bed?' was the question. Well, I did turn myself on 
one side, and, with a stick, begun to dig a little in the 
ground. It looked then as though I should not do 
much damage to the nice sod father had taken so 
much pains to make ; but I dug a little hole as large 
as my fist, and then rested. After a while I turned 
over on the other side and dug another little hole, 
filled it up, and rested again. It seemed good to rest 
and I felt a little better ; for the outdoor air, and the 
exertion I had put forth, 'loosened' my cough a lit- 
tle, and I begun to ' raise/ At night they carried 
me back to bed. My bed-room windows had been 
wide open all day, and I wouldn't have them shut 
now ; but in answer to their fears about the night 
air and catching cold, I said, ' Give me clothes 
enough, and I will risk the night air — I'm going 
to breathe pure air the next six weeks — if I live so 
long/ They all felt terribly — they thought I was 
shortening my life, even then — but they yielded, final- 
ly, in everything, even to not asking me ' if I couldn't 
eat a little of this, or that, if they would make it for 
me?' I had replied: ' No, when I feel like eating a 
piece of Graham bread or a potato, without butter or 



9 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

salt, I will eat something — not before/ This had oc- 
curred ' in the morning, and that very night I asked 
for a slice of bread and ate a little bit — as big as my 
two fingers, perhaps. I had them put a teaspoonful 
of cayenne pepper* in a dish and turn warm water on 
it — a quart — and let it stand overnight, and in the 
morning was sponged all over in that water — the dregs 
turned off. I had them bathe an arm and then dry 
it with a coarse towel, and rub me with it as hard as 
I could bear (not very hard, to be sure), then a leg, 
and so on.f It seemed to give the dead skin a little 
life ; then they carried me out to my ' work ' again ! 
I felt like resting after the bath, but after a while 
I turned over and dug a larger hole than on the day 
before, filled it — partly with what I raised from my 
lungs, and such stuff as it was ! I could take longer 
breaths, too ; and after digging a minute or so I would 
have to stop and take a long breath, and then go on 
again. % I was thirsty a good deal, and would drink 



* It was, in the author's opinion, the bath rather than the pepper which 
proved so beneficial. 

t In practice, it will often prove that quick sponging, all over, and brisk 
drying, followed, perhaps, by thorough hand-rubbing, will be more useful 
than the " piece-meal " bath : with water at a comfortable temperature, and 
the work quickly and skillfully performed, while it might seem likely to occa- 
sion a severe shock to the patient, still, it is but one "shock " instead of 
many, and is really far less trying, with many patients, than the more pro- 
longed process with its oft-repeated local shocks. If rightly managed, the 
reaction from the full bath makes it altogether the most agreeable. It is of 
vital importance, to secure this warm " reaction, " and if, in any instance, 
there is failure in this direction, the instant application of warming appli- 
ances — hot-water bottles to feet, warm flannel wraps, extra blankets, etc. — 
is imperatively demanded. Baths which are succeeded by chilliness are de- 
pleting, and if of common occurrence are destructive to life ; far better not 
bathe at alL 

£ See note 6 in Appendix, p. 284. 



CONSUMPTION. 



91 



water — all I wanted. I ate a piece of stale coarse 
bread and some fruit that morning after I was rested 
from my first digging, and then I kept on resting 
for some hours, after which I dug a little more. 
In the middle of the day, when the sun came down 
too hot, I had an old umbrella put over me and fast 
ened. At night a little bit of bread and a small 
potato: I ate as much as I could relish, but not a 
mouthful more. In this way I kept on, day after day, 
and they began to see that I was gaining. Father, 
who could not believe the gain was real, but rather 
the temporary effect of my will, yet joked me about 
ruining the lawn : - 1 shall have to turf it all over 
again, Lucia/ said he, even before I could dig a hole 
large enough in a day to bury a cat in, and he tried to 
laugh at hi*»i ; ttle joke. I remember that I did laugh, 
and came near strangling in a coughing fit in conse- 
quence, but that was a help ; what I needed was to cough 
and raise the stuff up — those old ulcers that the doc- 
tor said my lungs were covered with — and I found 
fresh air, flavored with a little exercise, a better ' ex- 
pectorant,' as you doctors say, than those I had been 
taking. I began to feel hopeful — the novelty of the 
idea — digging for my life ! I took a desperate view 
of it — six weeks to live — i Til die fighting/ I said 
to myself. It seemed almost droll — droll enough, 
at any rate, to interest my mind, and I would say 
funny things to the others to make them laugh, and 
this seemed to make them try to be cheerful and 
to cheer me on. The third day, I remember that I 
ate the same kind of a breakfast — just a little — and 



92 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

at night asked them to boil a beet ! I would have 
only one vegetable at a time, lest I might be tempted 
to overeat and lose my appetite, and so spoil every- 
thing.* I was impressed with the idea of ' earning 
my living ' at outdoor work — ' by the sweat of my 
brow ' — and not to eat more than I earned by the ex- 
ercise. I had renounced my coffee and tea ; I ate no 
grease of any kind, nor meat — bread, fruit, and vege- 
tables only — no salt or spices, pastry, pie, puddings, 
nor cake, nor ' sweets ' of any sort, except the natural, 
whole sweet furnished by nature, in the form of vege- 
tables and sweet fruits. The prescription said that 
some people ate too much soft food, — bread and milk, 
puddings, and the like, — and that while such dishes 
were better than many others in common use, still 
they were not the best, especially for sicWpeople with 
weak stomachs, but that dry (farinaceous) food was 
every way better ; and so I ate bread, or unleavened 
biscuit, which, after a little practice, the girl could 
make very nice, — just the meal and water well mixed 
and moulded stiff and baked in a hot oven, — and 
I ate them very slowly, chewing each mouthful 
thoroughly. You can tell, perhaps, doctor, just why 
this should make a difference :f I only know that it 
seemed to agree with my stomach better. They 



* One element which aided immensely in this remarkable cure, was the 
absence of great variety in the food. Indigestion is the enemy to be over- 
come ; and he must be " killed dead." Variety is this enemy's right-hand 
man — encouraging excess and the indulgence in questionable articles ; and, 
above all, prohibiting the adaptation of the digestive organs to any class of 
all the ailments thrust upon them. (See foot-note, p. 213.) 

t The " difference " is in the digestibility, and in guarding against excess : 



CONSUMPTION, 93 

bathed me every morning in the same way, only 
after a while they did not have to work so slowly 
and cautiously. I could exercise more and more, 
from day to day, and with less and less fatigue, and 
I laughed to myself that father's joke would prove 
something more than a joke ; I was bound to undo 
all his nice work ; and I knew he wouldn't care, so 
that I could get well. After a while I could raise 
myself up and sit erect, and dig a little, first on one 
side and then on the other ; and by the time my ' six 
weeks ' were up — and I told father so one day — I 
could dig a pretty good grave for myself, if they 
wanted to bury me ; only, it wouldn't be quite deep 



Overeating is, of itself, a positive guarantee of indigestion.* The advan- 
tages of the hard bread and " dry diet " are manifold : (i) thorough mastica- 
tion — calling the muscles of the mouth into action, and while this tends to 
make the cheeks plump and full, the exercise affects the various glands, and 
aids in the secretion of the salivary fluids essential for the digestion of 
starch ; f (2) it causes one to eat slowly, so that each mouthful entering the 
stomach, is not only thoroughly insalivated and thus prepared for stomach- 
digestion, but can be thoroughly manipulated in the stomach and impreg- 
nated completely with the gastric juice : this must be deemed a very impor- 
tant feature, when we reflect that in very depraved states the digestive fluids 
are not as abundant nor as readily secreted as in health. (3) Chewing 
strengthens the gums and the teeth, — tends to preserve them and fit them for 
their legitimate work : decaying teeth are a source, as well as a symptom, of 
disease. 



* In accordance with a universal law of nature, — "the conservation of 
energy," — "gastric juice," upon which digestion depends, "is secreted from 
the blood by the glands of the stomach, in proportion to the needs of the 
organism for food, and not in proportion to the amount of food swallowed." 
There is, therefore, a normal dyspepsia for whatever of excess is taken. 
Moreover, in such cases, none of the food is well digested. 

f Ptyalin, a vegetable matter contained in healthy saliva, has very pecul- 
iar properties : "if mixed with starch and kept at a moderate warm tem- 
perature, it turns that starch into grape-sugar. The importance of this 
operation becomes apparent when one reflects that starch is insoluble, and 
therefore, as such, useless as nutriment, while the sugar formed from it is 
highly soluble, and readily oxidizable." — Huxley. % 



94 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

enough to hold me down — for I had actually raised 
myself to my feet, stood alone, and walked a few 
steps without help. On the eighth week I could 
walk about — would walk off a dozen steps, come back, 
sit down — perhaps lie down. The more I did, the 
more I could do — always taking care not to exhaust 
myself — and the more I could eat ; but I took even 
more care not to overeat than not to overwork: I 
found that the real thing was to eat little enough — ■ 
not to see how much I could eat — so that I could in- 
crease the amount regularly, rather than to lose my ap- 
petite and eat nothing some days, or eat without an 
appetite, and next day eat enormously, perhaps, as 
mother used to; I wouldn't have them 'fix up '^any- 
thing — I was afraid of being put back. I ate but 
twice a day, and sometimes my breakfast was nothing 
but fruit— two or three oranges or as many apples, or 
a huge slice of watermelon — this was food and drink, 
both. I wore the least possible weight of clothing — • 
often removing my stockings as well as shoes, and 
going barefooted and bare-armed when the weather 
was very warm. I had lost all fear of taking 
cold, though I kept comfortable always — throw- 
ing off clothing when too warm, and putting it on, 
as any great change in the temperature made it 
necessary, but to the extent of my increasing strength 
I endeavored to keep warm by exerting my muscles. 
One day, after some months of self-treatment, and 
when it had become evident that I was really conva- 
lescent, I asked brother to call Dr. Osgood (the young 
doctor who refused to take my case). * Why, sis/ said 



CONS UMP TION. 95 

he, 'you are not in earnest?* ' Yes, I am/ said I, ' I 
want to tell him how to cure consumption ! You tell 
him I want to see him, but don't say what for/ He 
had been away somewhere, and had forgotten all about 
me, of course, but when brother spoke to him about 
me, he was astonished to find that I was alive. 4 It was 
amazing' he said. ' Yes, if there is any chance of sav- 
ing (!) her I will call ' — and he came. He expressed his 
pleasure at finding me so well, and I suppose he 
thought I had come to a point where I felt the need 
of his advice and a • tonic/ perhaps ; but I just made 
him listen to the story of my self-cure, and asked him 
if he couldn't advise others to do the same way, and 
so do his patients more good. He was inclined to be 
vexed, at first, but finally he laughed and said : i Really, 

Miss B , I have come here at your request, and 

you have prescribed for me, instead of I for you, and 
I thank you for it — will pay you for it, if you will 
name the price — but I could not practice in that way. 
Why, how many consumptives would act upon my 
advice, if it was of that character? How many, in- 
deed, would have the second visit from me, or recom- 
mend me to others? They would even denounce me 
to their friends — to every one they saw, and I would 
have to go to digging in the ground myself, or leave 

for other parts. No, Miss B , you learned the 

true secret, and you were " fit " to " survive " because 
you worked out your own salvation : you have taught 
me something — a valuable lesson, I may say, and one 
that I shall profit by as I have an opportunity ; but 
we could never set up such a reform — one doctor, nor 



96 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

two, nor three, alone — the time is not ripe for it, phy- 
sicians are not ripe for it, and it can only come, if it 
is ever to come, by just such independent action as 
your case represents.' And so he went away, and I 
continued my ■ treatment/ The next summer I had 
a little flower garden of my own, watered and tended 
it, and, a little later, helped about the kitchen-garden, 
besides taking care of my own room ; and so I went 
on, gaining steadily, until, within two years, I was well 
— better than I had known myself since my romping 
days, and I have scarcely had a real sick day since — 
never a serious illness from that day to this, nearly 
thirty years." "How do I keep well?" you ask. 
" Why, by pursuing the same principle that cured 
me — the same, in fact, that would have prevented 
my decline, in the first place. I never breathe i in- 
door ■ air, winter nor summer, day nor night ; I eat 
only the simplest food, and in moderation — yet I 
will, sometimes, eat a little more than I need — • 
some meals or some days — and will have a little 
headache, or, perhaps, an old tooth will ache, or 
there may be a little disturbance in the stomach ; 
but whatever it is, I eat more moderately — some- 
times go without a meal ; and if anything more 
serious than I have named presents itself — lack of 
appetite, or a bad feeling at the stomach, or a bad 
headache — I go all day without eating, and keep about 
my work, as usual, or take a walk outdoors, and this 
plan always works a cure. You see, I dress right — 
loose garments, no corsets, no heavy skirts hanging to 
my waist or hips, no smothering flannels, except the 



CONS UMP TION. 97 

lightest, and those only in the coldest weather; I 
keep busy about something most of the time ; take a 
good deal of exercise ; go out when I can, and bring 
outdoors in when I can't go out — by having every 
part of my house well ventilated and as light and 
1 sunshiny ' as need be (you see, doctor, I am not 
whimsically afraid of flies nor of fading the carpet) ; 
I think of my escape, of my good health, and this 
makes me cheerful. I feel sure of not getting sick 
— -I have no anxiety on that score, — and I try to 
do what good I can, in my small way, and all this 
is as it should be — it is i healthy/ and, all things be- 
ing so, there is only one other chance to err, and 
that is in eating, and so when anything troubles me, 
I know what it is. So many people go wrong in 
all these things — dress bad, breathe bad air, feel lan- 
guid in consequence and lie about doing nothing, in- 
doors ; eat worse food than I do, and eat more and 
oftener — no wonder they are always ailing, nor that 
so many die. But, Doctor, this will not cure my niece 
— our talking — and I don't suppose I have taught you 
anything, as I did the young doctor, so many years 
ago ; but if, as you say, you can tell the story for the 
benefit of others, I shall be very glad indeed to see it 
in print. You will send me a copy of the paper, 
won't you ? i A dozen copies ? ' Well, all the better, 
I will send them to my friends ; they will wonder how 
the i old story ' got into the papers." And that is the 
way this history of a " Natural Cure" came to be 
printed. 

Note the special elements lending to insure sue 
5 



9 8 



THE NATURAL CURE OF 



cess in the case of self-treatment just given : The 
courage, prevalent good temper (so rarely found 
in these cases), and determination to win (equally 
rare), did much, very much, toward conquering her 
disease ; but it is more than doubtful if these alone 
would have sufficed : her success in winning the 
family over to her radical views, or, at least, in gain- 
ing their entire co-operation, was a marked feature 
looking toward a final victory. None of them ven- 
tured to discourage her, — all joined heartily in the 
work. Had she sat at an ordinary table, one crowded 
with " good things "; and had her friends persisted in 
entreating her to eat this, that, and the other thing, 
it is probable that her good resolutions would have 
failed, sooner or later, — her life paying the forfeit. 
And this leads me to mention a most important feat- 
ure of what has come to be known as the " Salisbury 
Treatment ": " Meals are to be taken at regular inter- 
vals, and the patient should eat either alone or with 
those who are using the same diet, and not sit down 
at a table where others are indulging in all kinds of 
food. He should take a good draught — one or two 
cupfuls — of warm water an hour before each meal ; a 
sponge-bath two or three mornings,* and a comfortable 
full bath once a week. For the latter use a little pure 
Castile soap, but rinse thoroughly. Air-baths and sun- 
baths are also of great importance. (See 'Air-baths/) 



* If desirable, this bath may be taken later in the day ; but it should never 
occur within one hour before, nor until at least three hours after any meal. 
The temperature of the water should be agreeable with sensitive patients, but 
gradually lowered from day to day, until cool water becomes agreeable. 



CONS UMP TION. 99 

Flannel worn next the skin [I should say, that the 
year round, cotton underwear is far better], and the 
clothing frequently changed and aired. As much 
open-air exercise as can be borne without fatigue, or 
thorough rubbing and pounding of the body [or 
squeezing of the muscles of the entire body, with a 
firm grasp of the attendant's hand] morning and 
evening for those too weak to take exercise/* 

It is the prevalent belief that hot food is desirable 
especially for feeble persons, inclined to chilliness ; 
but while smoking-hot dishes produce a temporary 
feeling of warmth and comfort, this is usually suc- 
ceeded by a " reaction," producing a still greater de- 
gree of chilliness : the congestion excited by the 
presence of the hot food or drink, soon subsides, 
leaving the stomach anaemic, delaying digestion, 
perhaps preventing it altogether. Cool food, properly 
masticated, acquires in the mouth a normal tempera- 
ture, and thus enters the stomach without producing 
the unnatural stimulation which arises from the in- 
gestion of hot food, and which is likely, in the case 
of feeble persons, to cause, secondarily, most mis- 
chievous effects. A single mistake of this sort may 
excite congestion of the lungs, and undo the good 
work of weeks of right living. This can not seem in- 
credible, in view of the fact that a single excessive 
meal often excites an attack of congestion of the lungs 
in the case of robust persons. True, in these instances 
the disorder is usually attributed to " a sudden cold," 
whether the victim can or can not recall any exposure, 
but the fact is as I have stated. I have had mam 



IOO THE NATURAL CURE OF 

instances like the following: A business man, accus- 
tomed to an outdoor life, rises in the morning after a 
good night's sleep, feeling as well as usual ; eats a 
hearty breakfast, dons his overcoat, walks briskly to his 
place of business, and entering the hot, close office, per- 
haps within thirty minutes from the time of rising from 
the breakfast-table, he finds himself so hoarse that he 
can hardly make himself understood, and feels a pres- 
sure at the lungs indicating a great degree of conges- 
tion. There is but one way to explain this : a pre- 
disposition ; a hot meal, rapidly eaten ; active exer- 
cise taken immediately thereafter, and while the 
stomach is engorged with food — what more is need- 
ed ? The wonder is, not that this man is suddenly 
made sick, but, rather, that he is not oftener so. 

The consumptive will often derive great benefit from 
a full stomach-bath daily, consisting of about a pint 
of tepid water rapidly swallowed, on rising or an hour 
before breakfast. This will not create nausea or ex- 
cite vomiting, unless there is occasion for these symp- 
toms, arising from the presence of undigested food ; 
but it will prove healing, prevent thirst and the ne- 
cessity for drinking with, or directly after, meals — al- 
though, whenever there is thirst, the patient should 
drink pure cool water, moderately, but to his satis- 
faction, finally. It is better, however, as a rule, to 
drink regularly, an hour or so before each meal, such 
an amount as suffices to prevent thirst, while not 
causing a feeling of discomfort soon after drinking. 
A little practice, with careful observation, will soon 
enable the patient to judge how much to take. 



CONSUMPTION. IOI 

OPEN-MOUTH BREATHING. 

I am not going to recommend the consumptive, 
nor any person, well or ill, to do all or much of his 
breathing through the mouth ; on the contrary, I 
agree that the nostrils were designed to warm and 
filter the air, and that in general this is necessary. 
But there are times when the atmosphere does not 
require to be filtered and when it had better not be 
warmed ; and I wish to do away with all fear of dan- 
ger from casual or occasional open-mouth breathing, 
especially in the open air, and in winter, or at any 
season when there is freedom from dust, and regard- 
less of the weather, and the time of day or night. 
For " sore " or irritated throat and bronchi, or op- 
pressed lungs, I have found persistent open-mouth 
breathing of pure cold air curative in its tendency ; 
and have myself, upon occasion, gone out on a win- 
ter's night, to walk and breathe in this manner by the 
hour. Consumptives are often subject to attacks of 
dyspnoea (difficult breathing), but rarely, if ever, do 
they come on out of doors ; it is rather, when, having 
been vouchsafed a little pure respiratory food, the 
lungs are again forced to respire the hot, poisoned, 
make-believe air of the home, that the congestion 
takes place. And this may be set down as the only 
danger in the premises, viz. : the return from the 
fresh, pure and bracing atmosphere without, to the 
over-heated and under-ventilated living-rooms. The 
remedy, then, for an attack under such circumstances 
would be found in throwing open the doors and win* 



102 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

dows — keeping well wrapped or warm in bed — rather 
than in sealing the crevices and piling on fuel. Even 
pneumonia, most dreaded of " diseases/' in which the 
lungs are congested to engorgement, is now being 
successfully treated on this principle — the persistent 
open-mouth breathing of out-door air, if in the winter, 
or the same, drawn through an ice-packed refriger- 
ator — (scrupulously clean and profusely ventilated), 
if the weather be warm ; the patient, meanwhile, 
being warm in bed, though never sweltered with 
wraps [the aim being to balance the temperature, by 
cooling the head, heating the feet, and exposing and 
sponging the feverish surface, as may be indicated], 
and supplied with a proper face-piece to which is 
attached a flexible tube, through which the cold air 
is passed direct to the lungs ; this manner of breath- 
ing to be constant and uninterrupted, hour after hour, 
and throughout the night, if necessary {never remit- 
tent), until the temperature of the patient, as indicated 
by the thermometer placed under the arm, is reduced 
to about the normal point (98. 2° F.), and the pressure 
at the lungs relieved. The philosophy of this treat- 
ment is as evident as is that of the playing of an 
engine upon the hottest part of a fire. 

A WORD ABOUT THE BED. 

The bed and its covering constitute the night- 
clothes, and for the bed-ridden patient day-clothes as 
well. Therefore, we can hardly place too much im- 
portance upon the bed and its appointments. And 
yet, in view of all that has been said relating to clean- 



CONS UMP TION. 103 

liness and wholesomeness, in a general way, but few 
words are necessary to tell the story. The bed may 
be of straw, even, and still, if full, fresh, and well- 
made, be every way sufficient for comfort and health. 
— better, indeed, than a poor or long-used mattress of 
any sort ; — a mattress of hair, cotton, or wool makes 
a complete bed. A feather bed is the worst of all. 
Whatever the bed may be, it should remain open and 
airing whenever the patient is out of it for any length 
of time ; hence the bed-room should not be the sit- 
ting-room when avoidable. Patients confined to the 
bed altogether, should, if possible, have two — one for 
day, the other for nigfht use — each kept airing during 
all the time it is unoccupied, and, when practicable, 
placed in the open air and in the sunshine a portion 
of the day ; the more the better. After the cotton 
or linen sheets, the^ covering (of as little-weight as is 
consistent with comfort) „ should, in place of the 
common "corofortables," consist of woolen blankets, 
which, being porous, are less " stifling " to the body 
(see foot-note, p. 171), and permit of being readily 
cleansed and dried ; and they should be thus treated 
as often as once in three or four weeks, at least, and 
oftener if the thorough airing recommended is not 
given them. The " sick-room " should be the " health- 
iest " room in the house — bright, sunny, and made as 
"cheery" as possible. No "long-faces" should enter 
it ; there should be no "croning about" — no constant 
" how-do-you-feel-to-days," nor subdued looks or airs. 
Carry along a happy, cheery face and tone, or keep 
out of the sick-room altogether. Above all, no mind- 



104 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

pictures about eating, eating, eating — unless the pa- 
tient is past hope ! 

THE POSITION IN BED, 

As well as when up and about, is a matter of im- 
portance to the sick or well. With the sick, the 
habit of " rounding up " to the disease is every way 
prejudicial. Consumptives are especially inclined to 
seek present ease to their ultimate hurt. It should 
be one of the aims, in " lung difficulties/' to increase 
the breadth of the chest in order to give more room 
for the expansion of the lungs ; and this demands 
increased efforts to expand the lungs, and to push 
the shoulders back — gradually, very gradually, never 
to the extreme, but with steady persistence. No 
radical and immediate change must be looked for; 
none can be accomplished, in any direction, whether 
in the shape of the body, quality of lung tissue, or 
breathing pow T er ; but a gradual transformation may 
be inaugurated, and ensured by means of persistent 
effort, as the general health improves. It is best to 
lie, at least much of the time spent in bed, as nearly 
flat upon the back as possible, slightly inclining to- 
ward the side, or alternating between the two posi- 
tions, with the head low ; arms and legs " at ease," 
the latter not drawn or " curled" up, but slightly 
relaxed. If the general regimen is strictly hygienic, 
the position as thus described will, so far from work- 
ing any harm, prove of advantage — favoring free 
breathing, as well as the fullest rest of the body. 
Where there is shortness of breath and difficulty in 



CONSUMPTION. 105 

breathing, the patient is inclined to cultivate the 
habit of narrowing the shoulders, and so bolstering 
himself in bed as to still further shorten the breath, 
thus temporarily easing the difficulty, but finally in- 
creasing the disease. He needs to courageously take 
the opposite course (never rashly, however), and meet 
the consequences, which are likely to be manifested 
in some increase of coughing and raising — the very 
things he needs to do, but which he is apt to shrink 
from as much as possible. In avoiding natural " ex- 
pectorants/' the necessity for artificial ones seems to 
arise. In the one case he raises with some effort 
what, in his present state, may be described as the 
normal amount of mucus; in the other, expectora- 
tion is easier because there is more to raise. The 
former is curative ; the latter tends to fatality. 

Well knowing that sexual indulgence constitutes 
one of the most fruitful causes of this disease — of de- 
cline, in short, however exhibited — I will conclude by 
saying, that the consumptive should never depart 
from the rule of strict continence. (See Appetite.) 
No language can exaggerate the importance of this 
injunction for a person who is even threatened with 
decline, if he means to eradicate his disease. The 
sexual and the nervous systems (including the brain) 
act and react upon one another, keeping both abnor- 
mally alert, and these upon the digestive and assimi- 
lative, through the sympathetic, altogether making a 
quadrangular fight well calculated to impair — to break 
down, indeed — the strongest constitution ; while with 
the less vigorous (often the most lascivious ; or, may 

5* 



106 NATURAL CURE OF CONSUMPTION. 

be, the victim of a libidinous but otherwise consider- 
ate companion) the case is hopeless, unless the true 
remedy is applied. The patient should sleep alone, 
if possible, not even the husband or wife sharing the 
bed — a rule which, from every point of view, is of 
importance to both the patient and the attendant. 



Note. — The underlying principle of this work prohibits the idea of a spe- 
cKic and exclusive treatment for this, that, and the other disease mentioned ; 
for these are named simply in order that we may make a beginning toward 
understanding the term sickness : the entire volume, from preface to finis, is 
a treatise on the origin of sickness, its prevention and cure. In view of this, 
we can not leave the consumptive here, while the dyspeptic, the rheumatic, or 
the douloureux "-tic is invited to a consideration of his peculiar symptoms, — 
for these, in large measure, are mere accidents, since the rheumatic of to- 
day may be the paralytic of to-morrow, and the dyspeptic of this year the 
consumptive next, and so on. But all classes, and all who wish to inform 
themselves as to what makes pain and sickness, and what ends these symp- 
toms, should study carefully the various chapters, omitting none. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CONSTIPATION. 

TWYORARY non-action of the bowels as excretory 
organs, is entirely normal under certain conditions, 
as (i) following diarrhoea or looseness, whether caused 
by indigestion or physic, (2) throughout the period of 
a fast, (3) for the mother, several days (varying from 
3 to 10), at confinement,"* and (4) at such other times 

* The very common practice of administering purgatives or injections a 
few days after confinement is not only unnecessary — it is fraught with mis- 
chief and often with disaster. I have known of instances where robust 
women were kept sick, and dangerously so, in bed for weeks in consequence 
of the free use of oil administered by the physician (according to his invaria- 
ble practice) on the third and succeeding days. At her next confinement, one 
lady who had suffered as above, having lived hygienically during the gesta- 
tion period, suffered very little pain, was on her feet, washed and dressed her 
baby, and had a natural movement on the second day. In another case pur- 
gation was attempted on the third day and, oil not acting promptly, the total 
results of profuse injections at intervals for the next three days, was, on the 
sixth day, to bring away about a teaspoonful of strazv&erry seeds, the resi- 
due of berries eaten on the previous day. It is evident that the food was 
well digested and absorbed into the circulation, and that no fecal matters 
were secreted ; hence no occasion for the bowels to " move," in the common 
understanding of the term. In cases where women approaching confinement 
are troubled with constipation (entirely unnecessary if they will live proper- 
ly), the lower bowel should be evacuated by the aid of free injections prior to 
delivery ; but succeeding that event nature may well be left to herself for a 
time. Nature, however, does not have a fair chance where patients of this 
class are overfed ; hence, and hence only, the necessity for "aiding" her in 
moving the bowels. 

(107) 



108 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

as " Nature finds it necessary to muster all the ener- 
gies of the system for some special purpose, momen- 
tarily of paramount importance," as in alarming sick- 
nesses where, accompanied by lack of appetite, the 
bowels remain closed for a considerable period of time. 
In none of these circumstances should there be con- 
tinued efforts to excite action. In the last-named in- 
stance the lower bowel may need a clearing out by 
free injection at the beginning, and whenever there 
are fecal matters to remove ; but when convalescence 
is established, the appetite and strength have re- 
turned, food is taken and digested, the bowels will 
act of their own accord. The practice of fore- 
stalling nature in this matter by using physic or 
injections is often the cause of much mischief — 
it is an impertinent interference in nature's plans, 
and is seldom useful. If the sufferer is never fed, 
except at convalescence and when a natural appetite 
has returned, and then only with plain, wholesome 
food, — restricting the quantity to the present capacity 
for digestion and absorption, — the evacuation of the 
lower bowel may be awaited without any feeling of 
anxiety or alarm at its seeming tardiness. Returning 
strength is the only needed physic. 

In case of severe constipation, injections — internal 
baths, so to say — may be employed in emergencies, 
but infrequently and with extreme care, lest they 
aggravate the evil and provoke others. Although in 
no sense as injurious as purgative medicines, which 
inevitably impair the nutritive organs, still enemas 
should never be depended on for daily movements * 



CONS TIP A TION. 1 09 

Next to a correct dietary, with liberal exercise in the 
open air, one of the best aids in promoting regular 
action of the bowels is, in my opinion, passive exercise 
— kneading of the bowels for say five minutes or 
more before each meal — and the more active exercise 
of, say, imitating for a few minutes the arms-and- 
body swinging motions of a mower in the hay-field ; 
spending another few minutes in hopping up and 
down, twice on each foot alternately, while " keeping 
time " by slapping the thighs and swaying the body 
to the right and left ; stooping and rising, bending 
forward and back, etc. ; twisting the body around, 
first one way and then the other, with the hips as the 
pivotal point (at stool this last greatly facilitates the 
ejective process), etc., etc. Sedentary persons, and 
all who feel " chilly " at times, will find, upon trial, 
that a few minutes devoted to such exercise, occa- 
sionally, or whenever the need is felt, will be far 
more satisfactory than extra garments, or hovering 
about the fire : it sets the blood a-tingling in the 
veins and warms a body up.* (See Consumption, 



* William Cullen Bryant, — a most worthy model, mentally, morally, and 
physically — thus explains how he had "reached a pretty advanced period of 
life without the usual infirmities of old age." Next to his abstemious and 
mostly vegetable diet, and pure moral life, we may well agree with him in 
the belief that his wonderful preservation was largely due to his custom of 
going to bed early and early rising, and " for a full hour, immediately upon 
rising, with very little encumbrance of clothing, taking a series of exercises, 
designed to expand the chest, and at the same time call into action all the 
muscles and articulations of the body," followed by a bath "from head to 
foot." — Hygiene 0/ the B?-ain : $1.50.! New York, M. L. Holbrook. 

f This most valuable work contains letters from a score or more of eminent 
men and women who have lived to advanced age, descriptive of their living 
habits. The similarity of their mode of life is a feature worthy of remark. 



1 10 THE NA TURAL CURE OF 

for general regimen as to diet, air, exercise, cloth- 
ing.) If for a time the bowels are willful in the 
matter of demanding rest to complete a process 
of healing going on in the diseased glands when 
there has been distention and irritation, or until 
a reformed dietary shall have strengthened the 
general system when, from any cause, it has been 
under-nourished, and there is, consequently, no ac- 
tion for two, three, or even four days at a time, it 
need occasion no alarm, and the novice will be sur- 
prised to see how natural a movement will finally re- 
ward his or her patience in awaiting the call of nature, 
instead of badgering her into unnatural activity. It 
must be remembered that it is good health that en- 
sures daily movements, and not daily movements good 
health. Indeed, when produced by hook or crook, as 
is often the rule with infants, and adults, even, they 
do much harm. Daily purgations or injections are 
made necessary only by gross feeding; and if the 
latter abuse be persisted in it may be best to move 
the bowels frequently at all hazards. Under ..the in- 
fluence of this combination, however, the small intes- 
tines are often so disordered as to impair, even de- 
stroy, their power of assimilating food, and together 
with the colon, or large intestine, become so torpid 
as almost to require the use of dynamite to move 
them. 

Straining at stool is, beyond a slight degree, ab- 
normal, or is made necessary only by abnormal condi- 
tions, which render defecation difficult ; it tends to 
perpetuate and increase the difficulty, and should not 



CONS TIP A TION. 1 1 1 

be practiced ordinarily. The congestion and engorge- 
ment of the blood-vessels in the region of the rectum 
and anus from various causes, as retained fecal mat- 
ters, or irritation and congestion of the genital organs 
(which two causes act and react upon each other), 
produce hemorrhoids (piles), and this complaint is ag- 
gravated by the straining referred to. In such cases 
resort must be had to cool or tepid injections for a 
time. One effect of deep breathing, from either ex- 
ercise or habit — filling the lungs in such a manner as 
to press the diaphragm downward — is to cause regular 
pressure on the bowels, which aids in exciting their 
vermicular motion, and facilitates the action, both 
of the small intestines as digesters, and of the lower 
bowel in its secretory and excretory functions. The 
"movement," when natural, consists of waste matters 
secreted from the blood by the glands of the colon, and 
not, as is popularly supposed, of food substances, at 
least not to any considerable degree. When it does 
(and I am bound to say that this is the rule, rather 
than the exception), it is because the person has 
eaten at least that much more than he ought. A good 
rule for many who suffer tortures of mind because 
of constipation would be: mind your own business 
and let your bowels mind theirs. Strive not to have 
movements, but rather to deserve them. That is, 
attend to the general health by living hygienically, 
and the bowels will, if given regular opportunity, move 
when there is anything to move for ! With infants or 
young children, a little excess of food will, at first, 
occasion a little looseness, or increased action, usu- 



1 12 THE NA TURAL CURE OF 

ally ; deficiency in diet would cause constipation. 
The remedy in either case is plain : a little less food 
in the one case, a little more in the other. The first 
symptom, looseness, could not result from deficiency 
in diet, that is, if the deficiency related to quantity 
solely — the quality being plain and digestible. Tan- 
ner had no movement during his fast ; Griscomb's 
experience was similar, and Connolly, the consump- 
tive, who fasted forty-three days, had no movement 
for three weeks, and then the temporary looseness 
was occasioned by profuse water-drinking, which in 
his case proved curative. In common life, it is rare 
indeed that constipation is the result of a deficient 
diet, although it often arises from lack of nourishment 
consequent upon excess, or an unwholesome variety of 
food, or both. Usually it may be regarded as the " re- 
action " from over-action. The not uncommon experi- 
ence, in regular order, is this : Excess in diet, diarrhcea, 
constipation, physic or enema, purgation, worse con- 
stipation, more physic, and so on. The term reaction 
here means simply that the organs involved having 
been irritated by undigested food, and having by 
means of increased action cleared away the obstruc- 
tions, now seek restoration by the most natural 
method, as the name itself implies — rest. What are 
commonly called diseases are in reality cures ; and the 
common practice, with drug doctors, of 

" CONTROLLING THE SYMPTOMS/' 

is like answering the cries and gesticulations of a 
drowning man with a knock on the head. If when 



CONS TIP A TION. 1 1 3 

these intestinal disorders arise, or have become 
serious, their chief cause — over-feeding — be kept up> 
the next of nature's remedies may be inflammation 
of stomach or bowels, or both, followed, perhaps, 
by dysentery, which is the most serious phase of con- 
stipation. These are very alarming symptoms, and 
demand entire abstinence from food until they are 
considerably abated ; pure water should be given 
freely, and, when possible, exercise to some degree in 
the open air; tepid water injections, followed by gen- 
tle kneading of the bowels for a few minutes, occa- 
sionally, to promote the circulation in that region, 
thus favoring the cleansing and healing process. The 
appearance of a little fresh blood, even, following this 
treatment, should not excite alarm ; on the contrary, 
it is, per se, a favorable symptom. This special phase 
of the subject is treated more at length in the au- 
thor's work entitled " How to Feed the Baby." 

A very common mistake with the laity, and often 
enough made by physicians in diagnosing this com- 
plaint, is that of considering a comfortable daily 
movement conclusive proof that the bowels are not 
constipated. Few people have tongues that are en- 
tirely clean, and a coating there indicates, unmistaka- 
bly, a worse one of the stomach and intestines.* The 
daily — perhaps semi-daily — action is the result of 
purgation often, though they would scorn the idea of 
taking physic — the quantity or quality of their food 
being such as to cause a degree of indigestion and 
consequent irritation sufficient to produce purgative 



* See chapter on Consumption. 



114 



THE NATURAL CURE OF 



effects. While this condition can be endured, all seems 
to be going along well. There is, to be sure, more or 
less of acidity, sour stomach, eructations of acrid mat- 
ters (see the Salisbury theory in article on Consump- 
tion), flatulence, headache, neuralgic or rheumatic 
pains — more or less in number of the scores of ail- 
ments so common as to be considered almost normal — 
but not immediately any serious or alarming com- 
plaint. But, after a time, longer or shorter, according 
to the constitution of the individual, the movements 
become less satisfactory — irregular and not as profuse 
as common, and are passed with some difficulty, per- 
haps. Next to the mistake of resorting to drugs in 
these cases, is the quite common one of swallowing 
special kinds of food for the same purpose, and there 
is some question as to which of the two evils is the 
least. An excessive quantity of rye mush, wheaten 
grits, or oat groats, with a generous dressing of but- 
ter, syrup, milk, or honey to wash it down in abnor- 
mal haste, will often purge the bowels like the most 
drastic poison. Active exercise in the open air, taken 
in conjunction with a proper diet, would prove cura- 
tive ; but in default of this the case goes from bad to 
worse, until in spite of all the efforts made, the con- 
stipation becomes more and more obstinate, various 
symptoms increasing in degree and new ones appear- 
ing, until there almost certainly follows a severe 
" attack " of some sort : whether this be typhoid, 
bilious, rheumatic, or scarlet fever, erysipelas, diph- 
theria, or what not, depends upon the age, surround- 
ings, and diathesis of the patient. 



CONS TIP A TION. 1 1 5 

All such attacks may be called Nature's kill-or-cure 
remedies when, as a last resort, she is forced to adopt 
" heroic treatment "; but aid her in the Natural Cure 
and she is most kind. 



Note. — Attention is called to the notes following Consumption, and 
Bright's Disease. ' 



CHAPTER V. 

bright's disease (albuminuria). 

In its later stages, this is one of the worst forms of 
disease. It is often said to be caused by " cold." 
There can be no doubt but what a person whose kid- 
neys are already badly diseased, and, consequently, his 
whole system depraved, may have a violent illness 
excited by extreme exposure to wet and cold. The 
same may be said in case of one reduced by any ex- 
hausting form of disease ; but sound-bodied men, liv- 
ing hygienically, could never have this disease, what- 
ever the degree of cold they might have to endure. 
On the contrary, this disease is not known among the 
residents of the polar regions ; our own explorers 
among the ice-fields of the north do not have it, al- 
though exposed for long periods to a temperature at 
40 to 6o° F. below zero, and to changes of so extreme 
a character that our temperate climate affords no 
parallel to them. " In the accounts of Arctic expedi- 
tions, though the most intense cold was often en- 
dured, under circumstances of great fatigue, by men 
previously weakened by disease and hardship, this is 
not among the diseases from which they suffered. 
Dr. Kane's men, though enduring extreme cold, ex 
(116) 



BRIGHT 'S DISEASE. 



117 



posed on one occasion for seventy-two hours at a 
mean temperature of -41° below zero, suffered fear- 
fully from frost-bite and scurvy, but not from any 
renal affection. Other travelers within the Arctic 
circle bear the same testimony, and I have been in- 
formed by those familiar with the cold districts of 
North America, that there renal dropsy is unknown." * 
" The travelers in the frigid zone are exposed to far 
greater and more sudden transitions of temperature 
than are ever felt in our changeable but temperate 
climate. Capt. Parry states that his men often under- 
went a sudden change of 120 , in passing from the 
cabin of the vessel to the outer air, and yet none but 
the most trifling complaints resulted. Here we have 
all the circumstances from which experience would 
lead us to anticipate renal disease, viz.: great preceding 
depression, intense and protracted cold suddenly ap- 
plied Extreme cold," continues Dr. Dickinson 

(ibid.) " though it may stop cutaneous exhalation, 
probably does not allow the material that would 
cause renal inflammation to accumulate. Cold in- 
creases the action of oxygen and gives rise to increas- 
ed combustion of the solids and fluids of the body. 
This condition, as I have emphasized elsewhere 
repeatedly, occasions a demand for a large amount 
of food daily, to supply the waste, and exalts the di- 
gestive powers correspondingly. The moral of all 
this, for those w r ho, living in a temperate climate. 
would avoid these disorders — all physical disorders, 

* "Treatise on Albuminuria," by W. Howship Dickinson, M.D., F.R.C. 
P., etc., p. 54. 



1 1 8 THE NA TURAL CURE OF 

indeed — is that here the above conditions can not ob- 
tain to the extent of rendering possible the digestion 
and absorptio?i of three full meals a day. Only under 
exceptional circumstances are two such meals ever 
thoroughly digested and assimilated — they can never 
be, unless needed ; and this fact is not disproved sim- 
ply because inexperts do not recognize the symp- 
toms of indigestion which everywhere prevail among 
themselves. Some of the most incorrigible workers, 
with both brain and muscle, known to me, take but 
one meal a day* and this because they found the 
change necessary in order to enable them to perform 
their arduous labors and preserve their health. Others 
similarly situated divide this meal into two halves — 
taking a small meal .morning and night, or, better 
than the latter, a lunch in the morning, and at night, 
after ample rest, the principal meal. No person 
ever tried this plan and found any need of a change 
because of lack of nourishment. + I mention this last 
point to meet the stock objection of people who 
essay to escape from the logic of the position — 
the necessity for the modification of their own die- 
tetic habits — behind the old dogma, ' one's meat 
is another's poison.' (See p. 43.) It is entirely 
probable that a robust man (a frail one would 
succumb to the exposure, with or without food) 
exposed for days together, and for the entire twenty- 



* See note on The One-Meal System. 

t The fact is — and it can not be made too prominent — ninety-nine in the 
hundred, of all classes of people, eat in excess of their needs, and the 
" small eater," eating without appetite, eats, relatively speaking, more exces- 
bively than the gross-feeder whose appetite never fails. 



BRIGHT 'S DISEASE. 



II 9 



four hours, to the extreme cold of winter, exercising 
vigorously meantime, could eat three full meals a 
day and escape digestive disorder. The habit of ap- 
proximating as nearly as possible to this diet, in a 
temperate climate, or while the bodily warmth is 
maintained by artificial heat, originates the greater 
proportion of our ailments ; while lack of exercise, 
and the folly of attempting to oxygenate this exces- 
sive quantity of food with air that is breathed over 
and over again — a process which one writer likens to 
eating one's own foeces — amply accounts for the 
balance. 

" By cold the repiratory function is exalted, and 
the excretion of urea is diminished. With the intense 
cold of the North Pole (and in the open air), the in- 
troduction of oxygen by the lungs is probably so 
great, and the oxidation in the body so active, that 
all material susceptible of such action becomes 
oxidized, as much of it as can be converted into car- 
bonic acid passing out with the breath. The kidneys, 
therefore, are not liable, as in temperate climates, to 
be irritated by excrementitious matter, for the stress 
of excretion falls upon the lungs. ,, (Ibid.) The 
practical question then is, What can we do, in this 
particular climate, that shall tend to give us exemp- 
tion from a disease that can not exist at the poles, 
where the cold is intense enough to require a man 
to eat all he can, nor at the tropics, when the heat is 
met with a diet of juicy fruits?* (See article on 



* Sojourners from the North, at the tropics, are exempt from disease SO 
long as they live on the fruits of the soil ; but a beef and brandy regimen 

makes short work with them. 



120 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

Fruits.) Simply this, and nothing more ; so regulate 
the diet as to forbid indigestion, or, in other words, 
eat according to our needs, as governed by work and 
weather ; and all that has been said about the cause 
and prevention of H colds " (see C.) is applicable right 
here. 

Winter weather (inoperative, however, for those 
who spend their time in close, warm rooms), scant 
clothing, much exercise, fresh air — these conditions, 
so far as present, and to the extent of a man's sub- 
jection to them, require a larger quantity of food 
than could be digested under opposite conditions, 
and tend to mitigate the effects of over-indulgence 
as to amount and quality. In our climate, how- 
ever, not one person in ten thousand lives, even in 
the coldest weather, sufficiently under these influ- 
ences to require the diet necessary at the poles, viz., 
three full meals of mixed food, largely composed 
of fat. Hence, the only palliatives a person can 
resort to, who adheres to the prevalent mode ot 
living, as to diet, are those conditions that approach 
as nearly as possible to those obtaining in the frigid 
zone ; but these conditions can not be, at least are 
not, enjoyed here, to a point rendering exemption 
from disease possible even for the most robust. 
But when we reflect upotf the fact that our people 
are not, as a rule, robust (although this would be 
otherwise but for the unbalanced circumstances under 
consideration), that they live in warm rooms, wear 
heavy clothing even within doors, and don thick wraps 
on going out, work as little as possible (all tending 



BRIGHT y S DISEASE. \ 2 1 

to the need of abstemiousness), and that in the face 
of all this they do not, at least to any appreciable 
extent, voluntarily restrict their appetites, but do, in 
fact, even in summer, imitate the blubber-eaters of 
the North, nearer than they do the fruit-eaters of 
the South ; that Sabbath morning finds the New En- 
glander, for example, gorging himself with pork and 
beans, hot brown bread dripping with butter, hot, 
strong coffee, etc. ; Tuesday, roast-beef, with plenty 
of gravy ; Wednesday — " boiled mutton, with caper 
sauce/' and so on to Saturday's boiled dinner, of 
corned-beef, greasy cabbage, etc. (the diet of the poor 
differing chiefly in the quality, or price per pound), 
and this just the same during the warmest week in 
winter as during the coldest, and regardless of any of 
the possibly varying circumstances, as hard work out 
of doors, or light work, or none at all, within ; and 
that this same folly runs into and becomes greater 
folly in the spring and summer even, except so far 
as nausea or lack of appetite cause an involuntary 
modification, — in view of all this we need not look 
altogether, nor indeed at all, to heredity to ac- 
count for the wretched disorders to which we, as a 
people, are subject, and which prevail to an extent 
almost transforming our literary and art periodicals 
into indirect partnership-relations with the manufac- 
turers of quack " remedies" for all forms of sickness ; 
this class of advertisers pay too liberally to exclude 
their flaunting lies. I look almost in vain for even a 
religious journal that refuses to devote any portiot, 
of its space to medical advertisements. Do our re- 
6 



122 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

ligious editors themselves believe in, and take, the 
" pills " they advertise ? 

Bright's Disease is one that never attacks those 
who live on coarse food, live abstemiously, and drink 
water chiefly. It is rather a disease of " high livers." 
But a man does not need a large income to ensure 
this affection : any one who can get all he wants to 
eat and drink, and who eats and drinks all he " wants " 
(even without indulgence in wine, or alcohol in any 
form, which is a prolific cause of this disorder), may 
safely reckon on some of the symptoms, if not upon 
the worst form of the disease ; and whether it be the 
^understood cause of his death or not, it will surely 
be a contributing cause. The possession of typically 
healthy kidneys is a rare circumstance in this climate. 
The excessive micturition so universal in infancy, 
occasioned by excess in diet, is the beginning of 
renal disease. 

Dr. Bright immortalized his name by discovering 
the fact that, when a man's last sickness is attended 
with a certain class of symptoms, as albumen in the 
urine, final suppression of the urine, and uremic 
poisoning, they are occasioned by a peculiar disease 
or degeneration of the kidney. From a practical 
stand-point we care nothing about the kind of change 
taking place in the kidney, but rather ask what kind 
of change in our habits will keep this, and all the 
organs of the body, in a healthy condition ? The for* 
mer study is all well enough for those who desire it, but 
if too much time is devoted to it, and to the relation 
of drugs thereto, by an individual, he may be, prob- 



BRIGHT 'S DISEASE. 



123 



ably will be, the very least fitted to advise an in- 
quirer who desires to know what he can do to be 
saved from disease and the supposed necessity of 
taking medicine. Says Dr. Dickinson (ibid., chap. 
VI.) : " There are few disorders which are more under 
the influence of medicine than is the catarrhal inflam- 
mation of the kidneys/' And the very next sentence 
is one worth pondering on by those who are accus. 
tomed to take medicine whenever they come to grief 
through ignorance or neglect of the laws of life : 
" Under some plans of treatment/' says this celebrated 
authority, in continuing, " plans which formerly were 
almost universally adopted, and still have their advo- 
cates, the disorder is one of heavy mortality. Under 
other circumstances the danger is so small, that if 
once the complaint be recognized, a recovery may be 
reckoned upon in a large proportion of cases. With- 
out treatment of any kind there is reason to suppose 
that a large majority of the subjects of it would re- 
cover/' (The italics are my own.) From this it will 
be observed that it depends on one's luck whether he 
shall fall into the hands of a practitioner who belongs 
to a class still adhering to the plan ensuring a 
" heavy mortality," or of one whose modified form of 
treatment is less fatal ; and upon his good sense, 
whether he shall come under the influence of either, 
or adopt the methods indicated herein, viz., the 
abandonment of disease-producing, and the adoption 
of ^^-producing, habits, which would be an immense 
gain over the " no treatment " plan which, according 
to a rational interpretation of Dr. Dickinson's Ian- 



124 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

guage, is the safest of the three referred to by him. 
From the three-hundred-page treatise before me, 
which is fresh from the mint (1881), and is a most 
valuable book for those who wish to study the pa- 
thology of the disease (Bright's), but which is little 
calculated to aid any one healthward, except he be 
already pretty well informed in hygienic matters, I 
cull, in addition to the paragraphs already quoted, 
the following little nugget of pure gold : " We must 
avoid the use of any drugs which, under the name of 
stimulating diuretics, might exasperate the existing 
congestion.; and we must enforce such diet as to re- 
duce to a minimum that nitrogenous excess which 
finds its way out chiefly by the kidneys, and provides 
in many shapes effective means of irritation. Physio- 
logical repose is to be sought, not by debarring the 
gland of the harmless and necessary solvent, but by 
cutting off the materials of urea and uric acid." How 
naturally, then, do we look for the continuing senti- 
ments : " ' Spare diet and spring water clear ' may 
often be found sufficient- though simple remedies. 
Of all diuretics water is the best"* But how can we 
reconcile, with such counsel, the treatment that he 
himself commonly adopts? 

In one case noted by him, and in which, as he says, 
u the attack was slight," and " the boy became conva- 
lescent," but later, although under the doctors own eye 



*Ibid., p. 86. The italics are my own, and I am amazed to find that 
this best diuretic is rarely the one used, and never fairly tested by this au- 
thority, who seems almost to exhaust the materia medica in the treatment 
of even infants of tender age. 



BRIGHT' S DISEASE. 



125 



at the hospital, with " no evidence of his having taken 
cold," he became worse, went on to a fatal termina- 
tion, " the urine becoming loaded with albumen and 
abounding with fibrinous casts — convulsive attacks — 
death ! " It seems to me easy enough, however, to 
reconcile the unfavorable turn and the fatal termina- 
tion with the treatment he adopted, viz., digitalis in- 
stead of "the best diuretic" (water); "fluid diet," 
consisting chiefly of beef-tea — a non-nutritive fluid 
whose solid constituents are mainly urea, kreatine, 
kreatinine, isoline, and decomposed haematine, ex- 
actly the animal constituents of the urine, except 
that there is but a trace of urea.* 

As the little fellow grew worse, " a little brandy was 
given to counteract the depressing effect of the digi- 
talis." " On the 27th, the pulse had fallen to 52, 
and was not quite regular ; the brandy was therefore 
increased to two ounces daily," with digitalis every 
six hours ; later, a " diuretic draught composed of 
scoparium, acetate of potash, and nitric ether ; on the 
29th, this diuretic mixture was changed by the addi- 
tion of nitre and squills ; on the 30th, as was aptici- 
pated, he was seized with eliptiform convulsions, a 
succession of which came on, accompanied with foam- 
ing and biting of the tongue, and caused his death in 
two hours and a half."f The next case reported was 
that of a child eighteen months old, treated at the 
hospital by the same physician, and described : 



* London La.7icet. 

t The case of Thomas Vallance, 9 years old. Oh, wise physician : the 
fatal symptoms came along *' as anticipated I " 



126 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

" Dropsy — persistent diarrhoea — peritonitis — death. " 
"The child/' says the celebrated practitioner and 
author, " was frequently fed with pounded meat and 
milk ; a little brandy was given, and opiates and 
astringents were prescribed to check the diarrhoea/' 
As he went on to his fate, he was made to swallow 
the following remedies " : " opium, dilute sulphuric 
acid, tincture of the sesquioxide of iron, acetate of 
lead. The quantity of brandy was increased to three 
ounces daily. The child became paler and had a 
sunken look," etc. " The child sunk a week after ad- 
mission." I make mention of these cases for the rea- 
son that up to this day the same horrible treatment 
Is being practiced. Although these, and many even 
worse cases contained in this new work, transpired 
some years ago and were recorded in the first edition, 
still they remain in the new edition unaccompanied 
by any note of warning ; and young or old medical 
students pore over and imitate the examples here set 
before them. 

I quote another paragraph from the treatise of Dr. 
Dickinson, which, if it has, as would seem evident, 
thrown little light about the doctor's own pathway, 
as regards the appropriate treatment of the disorder, 
will prove instructive to some of my readers, and 
bear favorably upon my theory of disease. In the 
early pages (p. 29) of the treatise, Dr. Dickinson 
says : " It may be generally stated that this inflam- 
matory disease arises from unnatural stimulation of 
the kidneys. The blood is charged with [food] ma- 
terial excessive in quantity or unnatural in quality, 



BRIGHT } S DISEASE. 1 27 

which these glands take upon themselves to remove. 
Their own proper elements of secretion are poured 
upon them in sudden and excessive amount, or matter 
is thrown upon them which is foreign to their usual 
habit. As a consequence of overwork, or of work to 
which they are not adapted, they take on a turbulent 
and abnormal activity. They become congested, the 
tubes get choked up with epithelial growth, and the 
disease is established. " 

Many „of the symptoms in the following list are 
more or less frequently, some of them invariably, 
present in the case of supposably healthy infants, and 
are commonly considered as entirely normal. Fairly 
considered, however, they are the effects of excess 
in diet. To the greatest possible extent the super- 
fluous water contained in their gross diet passes 
off by the kidneys, causing immediately a diseased 
condition of those organs from overwork ; the cellular 
tissue becomes loaded and distended with the fatty 
matters, and also with much water, unrecognized as 
dropsy until it reaches immense proportions ; what 
really amounts to purging is so universal as to be re- 
garded as the normal state of an infant's bowels, and 
this is, sooner or later, often very early, succeeded by 
the reaction termed constipation. The back-aching 
that results from all this is none the less terrible be- 
cause the little sufferers can not talk and tell where 
the pain is ; peevishness, general malaise, and crying, 
tell of suffering, not of (their) perversity. Among 

the 

SYMPTOMS OF KIDNEY DISEASE 

are the following : frequent and copious micturition 



128 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

(wetting the bed or getting up at night) ; later the 
excretion of urine is scant, passed frequently, or, 
may be, suppressed altogether. Fat ; later — emacia- 
tion. Heat and dull pain in the loins* (small of 
the back), increased by pressure ; slight or consider- 
able " puffing " about the eyes, noticeable only at 
times, or it may be constant and unrecognized as a 
symptom of disease ; it may be diminished at times, 
as the secretion of urine becomes modified, or the 
condition of the system happens, temporarily, to 
improve. And it increases often when the secretion 
of urine diminishes, or is passed less freely. The 
countenance is more or less pallid, and may have a 
brownish tinge. Croupy breathing accompanies 
oedema of the larynx. " With children, inflamma- 
tion of one or other of the organs of respiration is 
the most fatal tendency of the disease. Not only 
are they liable to pleurisy, pneumonia, and bronchitis, 
but, also, to membranous croup." Constant tendency 
to irritability of manner, easily angered, unreasona- 
bleness, petulance ; with infants — constant fretting, 
crying, nothing will interest or amuse them. 

Diphtheria is, I believe, only a phase of albuminuria. 
Says Dr. Grasmuck, treating of diphtheria, and other 
physicians have observed the fact : "Another peculi- 
arity of the scourge is its fondness for children of a 
certain condition — the fat, sleek, soft, tender, ' well- 
fed ' children so generally admired — such children can 
offer but slight resistance to this disease ; being, in 



* Of all portions of the body, this should be lightly covered, never 
sweltered with wraps, bindings, or weight of garments. 



BRIGHT 'S DISEASE. 1 29 

fact, chronically diseased, they are predisposed to i at- 
tacks* of all kinds; and, living to adult age, furnish 
the greater proportion of cases of tuberculous disease. 
On the other hand," he continues, " I do not know 
of a single instance where the disease proved fatal to 
— rarely attacking — a child of the genus ' Street Arab ' 
— children who spend most of their time out of doors, 
are thinly clad, sleep in cold rooms, have a spare diet, 
and who have no one to pamper them unwisely." 

Dr. Dickinson treats of albuminuria under three 
heads, viz., tubular nephritis, granular degeneration, 
and lardaceous disease. He designates, also, such 
other diseases as are likely to result in consequence 
of this disorder; and finds some of these peculiar to, 
or more apt to afflict, sufferers from one or the other 
forms. He says: "It is seen (from the table pre- 
sented) that nephritis is a disease of infancy and youth, 
causing most deaths in the first decade coincidentally 
with the prevalence of scarlatina ; many in the third 
when the toils and exposures of active life are per- 
haps the most prolific of evil. Granular degeneration 
belongs to middle and advancing life, and is most 
fatal between fifty and sixty. The one flourishes 
upon the febrile accidents [!] of childhood and the 
susceptibilities of youth ; the other develops when the 
habits of life begin to tell and the effects of old age 
begin to appear. The lardaceous disorder has little to 
do with either extreme of the mortal course ; it is chiefly 
associated with the vices of early maturity* and with 
tubercle and struma, disorders more incident to the 
young than the old, and in their suppurative form to 
6* 



130 



THE NA TUBAL CURE OF 



youth rather than childhood. " Among the diseases 
resulting, or likely to result, from one or other forms 
of the disease, Dr. Dickinson names the following : 
dropsy, pneumonia, pleurisy, peritonitis, bronchitis 
[before mentioned] ; pericarditis, endocarditis, hyper- 
trophy of the heart, with cardio-vascular thickening, 
[heart " diseases''] ; hemorrhagic accidents [bursting 
of blood-vessels — apoplexy] depending as they do 
upon structural changes of the vessels ; diarrhoea. 

SOME OTHER SYMPTOMS. 

Nasal catarrh ; the radical suppression of this dis- 
charge is likely to be followed by serious if not fatal 
kidney disease.* (To remove the former by removing 
its cause, thus rendering the discharge unnecessary, is 
quite* another thing). Hence the danger of using so- 
called catarrh remedies, or of adopting any specific 
local treatment: they are either inert or injurious. 



* As illustrating this point I will mention the case of M. K., of Troy, 
N. Y., — a case of successful (?) self -treatment for catarrh. This patient had 
for a dozen or more years suffered with nasal catarrh, and had tried most of 
the advertised "specifics" without avail; in fact, the disorder steadily in- 
creased. At last, the twice daily snuffing of slightly soapy water, for some 
weeks, "cured" him, as he said; but simultaneously with the suppression 
of the catarrhal discharge there resulted (without, however, any thought of 
connecting the two events, in the mind of the patient) an excessive flow of 
urine, extreme thirst, etc., etc. ; in short, true diabetes. In this case great 
relief was experienced from an exclusive diet of skim-milk for five months, 
the patient swallowing nothing else for that length of time, except two table- 
spoonfuls, daily, of wheat-bran thoroughly chewed, "for the bowels." At 
the end of the five months the patient weighed 210 lbs. This he realized as 
excessive, and my attention being directed to the case at this point, the pa- 
tient at my suggestion adopted the bread and fruit diet — discontinuing the 
skim-milk and bran — and gradually reducing his weight by moderate diet 
and increased exercise, went on to a complete recovery. 



BRIGHT' S DISEASE. 



131 



Erysipelatous inflammation of the dropsical limbs ; 
"Vomiting may happen at any stage, even the earliest ; 
it is often incontrollable." Head symptoms, which oc- 
cur in the more prolonged forms of the complaint, are 
usually of a convulsive kind, whereas, in acute cases, 
coma is apt to set in without any such prelude. Epi- 
leptic seizures may be preceded by pain in the head, 
drowsiness, or peculiarity of manner, or may occur 
without any premonitory sign. 

Says Dr. Dickinson : " The gouty habit, from 
whatever circumstance it arise, is one of the more 
obvious and immediate conditions to which granular 
disease of the kidneys can be traced." .*.-." The 
disease is a frequent result of gout ; this is by far the 
most important fact in its etiology. It is one of the 
results of the gouty diathesis (see Rheumatism), 
and may precede or follow the external manifesta- 
tions. .... It is scarcely necessary to insist .... 
that the gouty condition comes first." The fact is 
that there is a process of degeneration going on- 
throughout the entire structure of the man, even to 
the last tissue, and the symptoms are all indicative of 
this ; and this is rribre or less strictly true of all dis- 
orders. The naming and classifying of u diseases" 
is calculated to mystify and mislead : sickness is the 
proper term for describing them all ; self-abuse, in 
the broadest sense of the word, is the cause of them ; 
and obedience to law, the only means of prevention 
or cure. 

I hold that the gouty, the rheumatic, the stru- 
mous, the " colds," and all other diatheses, are prac- 



132 



THE NATURAL CURE. 



tically unimportant distinctions. The technical differ- 
ence is, of course, well understood and admitted. 
In any event, it is certain that the course of living 
best suited to prevent one, is also best adapted to pre- 
vent or remove all. For all practical purposes, how- 
ever, they may be classed together ; and whoever 
desires, either for themselves or their children, exemp- 
tion frorfl, or the alleviation of, suffering, have only 
to adopt a pure mode of living in order to escape, 
or emerge from, the disease diathesis. 



Note. — The limits of this work forbid an extended consideration of the 
influence of this or that occupation in promoting this disease ; nor is it, in 
my estimation, essential. The trades must go on, regardless of their influ- 
ence upon health. There must, for example, be painters, plumbers, com- 
positors, tin-workers, etc., even though the absorption of lead does tend to 
produce the gouty condition and, so, a predisposition to renal disease. A 
sufficient degree of care in other directions would enable this class to <xxxii-r6 
the more favored ones who neglect the laws of life. 

See note 2 in Appendix, p. 276. 



CHAPTER VI. 

INSOMNIA — INSANITY. 

SLEEPLESSNESS is often referred to as a cause of in- 
sanity, but it would be much nearer the truth to say 
that insanity causes sleeplessness. Dr. Rush says : 
"A dream is a transient paroxysm of delirium, and 
delirium a perpetual dream. " Not every dreamer be- 
comes insane, in the common understanding of the 
term, nor every person who is distressed by wakeful- 
ness ; nor do all those persons who dream dreams of 
a strange, droll, startling, heart-rending, exhausting 
character, become inmates of lunatic asylums, although 
all such are fit subjects for a rigid hygiene ; and not 
a few out of this large number of bad dreamers — who 
are likewise afflicted with insomnia — but could with 
advantage place themselves under the charge of an 
expert in diseases of the brain, or even in an asylum, 
if either the former, or the physicians in charge of the 
latter, were in all regards thoroughly equipped for 
their work — a rare circumstance indeed. Normal 
sleep is dreamless; in default of this total oblivion, 
sleep is only partial — it is not perfect nervous repose. 
No person who suffers severely from indigestion but 
is also troubled with much dreaming, and, more or 

(i33) 



134 



THE NA TURAL CURE OF 



less, with wakefulness ; and no person who has these 
last-named symptoms but can safely set them down, 
at least in great measure, to digestive disorder ; and 
as, almost invariably, removable by improved habits. 
Some very wise men have stated as their belief, that 
no man living is really of sound mind, any more than 
of sound body, in the strictest application of the 
term ; all have their crazy aspects — their " weak 
spots/' as we say; and the anxious, brooding man, 
who fears the loss of his reason, may take courage 
from the thought that his symptoms are only a little 
worse than his neighbor's, and only demand of him to 
diminish his dyspepsia if he would become normally 
insane ! To attack insomnia as a disease instead of a 
symptom, is sure to result in discomfiture in the great 
majority of cases, and is in every instance unsound in 
principle. Once established, this condition of wake- 
fulness tends to perpetuate itself; but this would be 
otherwise with an absolutely natural regimen. A man 
is wakeful at night because under his present physi- 
cal condition he ought to be — just as in diarrhoea, the 
looseness is doing its work of cure. So with all symp- 
toms. Pain has its office, and this is coming to be 
better understood ; is already well known to thought- 
ful, well-informed people ; and the wakefulness of 
which so many complain, and which, in some cases, is 
of the most distressing, painful character, is as truly 
normal, considering the present physical state of the 
sufferer's brain, as is pain following a cut. As an aid 
in the removal of this symptom, next to a radical re- 
form in one's living habits, which is the only possible 



INSOMNIA— INSANITY. 135 

cure for the disease, the above reasoning is one of 
the most effectual. 

When a man is wounded severely his anxiety is not 
increased by the pain ; it causes no additional alarm, 
because he knows that it is entirely natural; let him 
know that sleeplessness is an analogue of pain, and he 
will, or may, bear it philosophically, and thus tend to 
its removal. He has a poverty-stricken mind, indeed, 
who can not, under such circumstances, pass an hour, 
or several of them, in comparative comfort, knowing 
that sleep will come in good time. But, thinking all 
the while that it is sleep only that he needs, his sleep- 
lessness distresses him, causes him to be more and 
more alarmed, and, consequently, has the effect to 
postpone the oblivion so devoutly prayed for, but 
so little earned. To deserve sleep is to have it. Let 
the insomniac read the concluding article of this vol- 
ume, and by the light of it review the hints on diet, 
air, exercise, etc., in the body of the article on consump- 
tion, so as to know what he has to do to become a good 
ma?t, physiologically ; and go to bed at about the same 
hour every night, if possible, or at any rate when he 
does lie down to sleep it should be after a quiet hour 
or half-hour devoted to peaceful and thought-steadying 
occupations, never exciting mental exercise, whether 
amusing or instructive ; and when he draws the blank- 
ets about him, let it be with a sublime indifference as to 
whether he shall or shall not go to sleep promptly. "As 
to the subduing of the senses, the attempt to shut out 
external impressions by deafening the ears, closing 
the eyes, and lowering the sensibilities generally, is 



136 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

in itself a frequently recognizable and always possible 
cause of persistent wakefulness. The effort to com- 
pose the mind (after lying down) and subdue the ac- 
tivity of the senses is made by the higher mental 
faculty, a part or function of the organism which, of 
all others, needs to be itself restful in order that the 
physico-mental being may sleep. It is, therefore, ob- 
vious that an endeavor to go to sleep is a mistake."* 

Rather let me, when staring out into the darkness, — 
for to attempt to shut out the sense of sight by clos- 
ing the eyes is always to render the inner-mental sense 
increasingly acute : " the field of sight is soon crowded 
with grotesque and rapidly changing images — a phan- 
tasmagoria, the worrying effect of which is only a too 
familiar experience of the sleep waiter," and all the 
mental senses are in like manner stimulated, and their 
acuteness intensified, by the endeavor to lower the 
sensibility of the sense organs ; and, worst of all, to 
narcotize them with drugs or sleeping-draughts is 
irrational and its effects injurious, and if long con- 
tinued, fatal ; — rather, I repeat, having ears to hear, let 
me hear, and eyes to see, see; and a brain, let me 
think. Let the brain, the ears, and the eyes " for- 
get their cunning," only when the eyelids droop in 
sleep because I am sleepy. Meantime, not self-abas- 
ingly, but calmly and dispassionately, would I philoso- 
phize thus : Well, I am in for it again ! I would like 
to sleep promptly, soundly, and long ; why do I not ? 
I suspect that I am not running this physico-mental 
machine even in a fairly physiological manner ; I cause 

* J. Mortimore Granville, M.D., in Good Words. 



INSOMNIA— INSANIT Y. 



137 



it to run at an abnormal rate during the day, and 
keep up infense mental excitement through stimula- 
tion of one sort or another, prolonging excessive men- 
tal activity too far on toward the night ; and because 
of this, and the lack of a fair degree of muscular exer- 
cise, I only half breathe ; of my fifteen or sixteen in- 
spirations per minute, not one distends the air cells 
of my lungs to half their capacity. [Thus it transpires 
that the organism suffers in two ways, viz.: (1) the 
circulation is not sufficiently oxygenated for its general 
purposes ; and (2) the waste matters are not " pumped 
out " of the substance of the brain,* as effectually as 
need be]. My coffee was strong and nice this morn- 
ing ; it stimulated me very satisfactorily throughout 
the day ; and, what I had not bargained for, I am still 
feeling the spur (see article on Coffee). That new 
brand of cigars is exquisitely flavored ; but, upon the 
whole, a perfect night's sleep would be far more ex- 
quisite; at least, just now I am in the mood to think 
so. I sneered at that food-reformer who told me he 
was never a good sleeper until his present simple, 
natural habits made him so ; but now, just at this 



* "As stimulation of the brain causes dilatation of its vessels, and increases 
the flow of blood through them, mental action of itself not only attracts more 
blood to the brain, but provides to some extent for the removal of waste 
products. Hence sleeplessness is normal for a clogged brain. The move- 
ments induced by the cardiac pulsations are not so extensive as those caused 
by the respiratory movements or by muscular exertion, and therefore, when 
the brain is overworked and the respiratory and muscular movements arc 
restricted, the cerebral nutrition will be diminished by the Imperfect removal 
of waste from its substance. But if, in addition to this, the cerebral cells 
fibers are actually poisoned by the circulation within the vessels which supply 
them, of noxious substances due to imperfect digestion or assimilation, matters 
will become very much worse."— T. L. Brunton, M.D., F.R.S. (ibid.) 



138 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

moment, it seems as if it would be a good trade to ex- 
change some of my favorite dishes for coarse food 
and balmy sleep ! Oh, if I only could get " balmy M 
that way every night ! I " got the best " of — — 

yesterday morning on those stocks, and spent an 

hour, bent over my desk, figuring to see how I could 
get hold of some more at that price, before its hold- 
ers had time to ascertain its real value. I will tell 
the widow in the morning, what it is worth, in- 
stead of trying to buy hers under-price as I contem- 
plated doing. And so I would con over and look 
through myself and my habits, feeling sure that my 
eyelids would droop, and sleep would come before I 
should have completed the work of reform ; and I am 
sure that every sufferer will find that a real reform — 
a permanent reform — will unfailingly lead on to health, 
and so to sweet and satisfactory sleep. 

" Let no sleepless person be discouraged. Maintain 
hope under all circumstances. Remember that there 
are many worse cases of suffering than your own in 
the world, although to you it seems impossible. Keep 
up your general health by all sanitary means possible ; 
walk much in the open air, if you can walk ; ride, if 
you can not walk. Above all measures, keep the 
functions of the skin in prime condition ; cleanliness 
is antagonistic to sleeplessness. Dry friction over 
the body by the use of the hand, or better by the use 
of the French hair mitten, twice a day, we have found 
of great service. The air-bath should not be neglected. 
A few minutes after the employment of friction over 
the body, walk about without clothing in a cool room, 



INSOMNIA— INSANITY. \ 39 

and if possible let the sun strike upon the body. Do 
not remain uncovered too long, so as to become 
chilled. Keep the digestion good ; eat only such 
forms of food as suit the digestive organs. Surround 
yourself with cheerful company if possible, read such 
books as do not tax or weary the mind, and life will 
cease to be a burden, even if you do not sleep as 
others do. Avoid above all things constant dosing ; 
throw into the ditch, or into the sea, all nostrums 
that may fall into your hand." 

Comparatively few, even of the so-called hopelessly 
insane, but might in the early stages of their disease 
be completely restored ; and at any period, so long as 
there is great vital force, or what would commonly 
pass for robust physical health, no case need be set 
down as hopeless. But while the present system of 
treatment prevails (it is not worthy the appellation of 
" system/') the present small proportion of " cures" 
will continue to be the rule. The inmates are confined 
more or less closely, often in imperfectly ventilated 
apartments, deprived of the exercise in the open air 
they so much need, to the lack of which in their own 
homes is, in part, attributable their present condition ; 
they are fed generously, even to plethora ; and this, 
through the fault of the ignorance of their attending 
physicians, although, if these were wise enough to 
know when and how their patients needed "dieting/ 1 
the friends of these sufferers would never submit to 
anything bordering upon a strictly abstemious diet in 
their treatment. In visiting lunatic asylums in this 
and other countries, I have been struck with the 



140 



THE NATURAL CURE OF 



appearance of groups of patients — the similarity 
of their physique, as compared with the men and 
women seen on our streets every day — fat or lean, 
seldom medium — all exhibiting clearly the physical 
characteristics of disease, as emaciation, obesity, lack 
of, or ravenous, appetite, usually the latter. Meal-time 
comes every five or six hours, and if the appetite 
is good, all are permitted to eat very much in ex- 
cess of their needs ; they are urged to eat when they 
desire to fast ; and food is forced into their stomachs 
if they are inclined to abstain for any length of time. 
It is not uncommon to find patients who upon enter- 
ing an asylum begin to fatten, though already in an 
abnormal condition in this regard, their symptoms 
becoming more and more discouraging as their weight 
increases, although neither physician nor friends con- 
nect the two facts in any way. The latter feel thank- 
ful that " poor dear J gets enough to eat ! " In 

this connection I introduce an incident of recent 
occurrence, not as indicating that a compulsory fast 
for an extended period should be resorted to gener- 
ally, nor my own belief that it is a specific for all 
mind-troubles, by any means, but as a fact of great 
significance which all interested in this question may 
well pause a moment to contemplate. 

[Dispatch from Philadelphia to the New York Herald]. 

TANNER'S RECORD BEATEN. 

AN INSANE ASYLUM PATIENT ABSTAINS FROM FOOD 
FOR FORTY-ONE DAYS. 
One of the most extraordinary cases of an insane 
man attempting to restore his reason by voluntary 



INSOMNIA— INSANITY. 



141 



starvation was discovered recently at the 

County Insane Asylum. The case presents an inter- 
esting study for medical men generally. , 

aged forty years, a well-known resident of , 

who has been confined in the institution for the last 
two years, has abstained absolutely from all food ex- 
cept water, for the space of forty-one days. From the 
forty-second day of his fast until the fifty-first day he 
drank one pint of milk daily, and from then began 
eating strawberries and milk. This diet was main- 
tained for three weeks, and was then succeeded by 
oatmeal gruel and milk, The case is a matter of care- 
ful record at the institution and under circumstances 
that prevented deception. Therefore, there is not 
the slightest doubt as to the extraordinary perform- 
ance having been genuine. Mr. , when he first 

came to the asylum, was very violent at times, but, like 
many insane persons, he was a ravenous eater. His 
insanity is supposed to be hereditary. Occasionally 
he has had lucid intervals, and during these brief 
periods he frequently expressed the belief that there 
existed some method by which the insane might have 
their affliction alleviated if not entirely done away 

with. To Mrs. , the matron of the asylum, he 

took a great fancy, and, while averse to having any- 
thing to do with any other of the officials, he confided 
in her thoroughly and often expressed the wish that 
his mind might be restored to him and that he could 

be released. " For forty-one days," said Mrs. , 

"nothing passed his lips but water, and tepid water at 
that. Of this fact I am thoroughly positive, knowing 



I 4 2 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

as I do the continuous efforts made every day to in- 
duce him to eat. When he began the fast he had 
been living on the same diet as the rest of the pa- 
tients. He came to me and said, seemingly in a per- 
fectly rational manner, that he was anxious to be 
cured, and that he thought abstinence from food for 

a time might benefit him. Mr. said he did not 

intend to carry his experiment to extremes, but that 
the moment he felt it would be proper for him to 
break the fast he would do so. On the second day 

again refused to eat, and did not go out of his 

room. On the third day he drank a small cupful of 
water. At the end of the seventh day he had drank 
about six pints of water, and the natural functions of 
the body had then ceased. All of the attendants 
were instructed to use every possible means to induce 
the man to partake of nourishment, and a man was 
with him constantly through the day." 

" Could he not have obtained food at night ? " was 
asked. 

" It would have been impossible," replied Mrs. 

. "All the rooms are locked, and none of the 

patients have access to other parts of the building 
after sundown. We would have been only too glad 
had he taken food. About the 20th day he be- 
gan to get thin and haggard-looking about the face, 
and seemed to be feeble. He said that his head felt 
better, and that he did not intend to eat anything as 
long as he felt so well. On the 35th day he became 
so weak that he had to go to bed, and remained there 
until he broke the fast. I had told him that when- 



INSOMNIA—INSANITY, 



1 43 



ever he wanted to eat to send me word, no matter 
what hour of the night or day it happened to be, and 
I would see that he was provided with anything he 
might fancy. On the afternoon of the 41st day since 

Mr. had ceased eating," continued Mrs. , 

" he sent up word by an attendant that he should like 
to have a cup of coffee.* I hastened to comply with 
the request at once, and had a cup of very strong Java 

prepared. Mr. drank it, and followed it up an 

hour later with a cup of nice, rich milk. He stuck to 
the milk for a week, I think, and then added straw- 
berries. This low diet was kept up, oh, for a long 
time, probably a month, then he gradually began eat- 
ing oatmeal mush and gruel, which has been main- 
tained up to to-day." 

" And you are perfectly positive, Mrs. , that 

Mr. fasted absolutely, with the exception of 

water, for forty-one days ? " 

" Perfectly satisfied," replied Mrs. ; " in fact, 

I know it. There can be no possible doubt, inasmuch 
as the attendants were only too anxious to force the 
man to eat." 

" Do you think the fast has made any change in 
Mr. 's condition ? " 

" Well," replied Mrs. , " he will probably be 

discharged as cured at the next meeting of the board 
of freeholders in August." f 

* One of the worst moves he could have made ; but it is significant that 
this was his last attempt to return to his coffee habit. In his renewed state 
it proved no longer enticing ! 

t It is a matter of regret to me that this book goes to press before I 
can ascertain the final result. Judging from the above account, however, I 



144 THE NATURAL CURE. 

A certain class of wakeful patients are benefited 
by the practice of eating shortly before bedtime, when 
this right has been earned by sufficient restriction 
during the day. To make this the fourth, or even the 
third meal, however, is almost certain to increase the 
difficulty at last. The victim of sleepless nights often 
finds himself quite overcome with drowsiness after 
his midday meal. If then he could throw himself 
upon the bed he would have no time to " count, " or 
even think of such a device for putting himself to 
sleep. He was wide awake before lunch, and but for 
the habit of taking it, could have finished the day 
better without than with this out-of-season sleeping 
potion. Let him take the hint, eat his second and 
last meal, a sufficient one of plain food, in the evening 
after fully rested, and, thus equipped, go to bed di- 
rectly, or after an hour or two of agreeable, but non- 
taxing, social converse. He must avoid every form 
of artificial stimulation — tea, coffee, wine, beer, to- 
bacco. To breathe the atmosphere of an office, 
hotel, or smoking-car, for any considerable period, is 
no better, may be worse, than a moderate indulgence 
at first-hand in the open air. 



should expect a thoroughly successful ending, unless it should transpire that, 
true to their instincts, the attendants prevailed upon the patient to abandon 
the simple regimen, which he adopted after the fast, and resume the ordinary- 
stimulating diet ; in which case I should confidently expect a complete relapse. 
As a hint regarding the effect of a stimulating and excessive diet upon per- 
sons of unsound mind, I subjoin a brief note taken during the trial of the most 
celebrated lunatic of modern times : " Guiteau's appetite is quite as remarka- 
ble as his insolence. He has breakfast served in his room at the court-house 
about nine o'clock, and usually consumes at this meal a pound of steak, nine 
buckwheat cakes, three roasted potatoes, and five cups of coffee. Then, at 
half -past twelve, he gorges himself on roast beef and mutton." 



CHAPTER VII. 

RHEUMATISM, FATTY DEGENERATION, ETC. 

Casey A. WOOD, M.D., Professor of Chemistry in 
the Medical Department of Bishop's College, Mon- 
treal, in an article entitled " Starvation in the Treat- 
ment of Acute Articular Rheumatism " (Canada Medi- 
cal Record), gives the history of seven cases where 
the patients were speedily restored to health by sim- 
ply abstaining from food from four to eight days, and 
he says he could have given the history of forty 
more from his own practice, but thought these would 
suffice. In no instance did he find it necessary to 
extend the fast beyond ten days. His patients were 
allowed to drink freely of cold water, or lemonade in 
moderate quantities, if they preferred, and simple 
sponging with tepid water was resorted to when in- 
dicated by feverishness of the surface. In no case did 
this treatment fail. No medicine was administered. 
The cases reported " included men and women of 
different ages, temperaments, occupations, and social 
positions." He further says : " From the quick and 
almost invariably good results to be obtained by 
simple abstinence from food, I am inclined to the 
idea that rheumatism is, after all, only a phase of 
7 (MS) 



I 4 6 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

indigestion, and that, by giving complete and con- 
tinued rest to all the viscera that take any part in the 
process of digestion, the disease is attacked in ipsa 
radiceT In chronic rheumatism he obtained less 
positive results, but did not venture to try fasts of 
longer duration. Dr. Wood concludes by saying that 
" this treatment, obviating as it does, almost entirely, 
the danger of cardiac complications, will be found to 
realize all that has been claimed for it — a simple, re- 
liable remedy for a disease that has long baffled the 
physician's skill ; and the frequency with which rheu- 
matism occurs will give every one a chance of trying 
its efficacy." As elsewhere remarked, nearly all pa- 
tients continue eating regularly, until food becomes 
actually disagreeable, even loathsome, often ; and, 
after this, every effort is exhausted to produce some 
toothsome compound to " tempt the appetite/' Fur- 
thermore, and often worst of all, after the entire fail- 
ure of this programme, the patient can, and usually 
does, take to gruel or some sort of " extract/' which 
he can drink by holding his breath. All this tends 
to aggravate the acute symptoms, and to fasten the 
disease in a chronic form upon the rheumatic patient, 
or to insure rheumatic fever ; and the same principle 
holds in nearly all acute disorders, it is well to re- 
member. So inveterate is this mania for eating, even 
when to continue is like turning coals upon the dead 
ashes and clinkers of an expired fire, that, in ordinary 
practice, it is well-nigh impossible to induce any class 
of patients to abstain from food at the beginning of 
an attack, or to give the fasting cure a fair trial at 



RHE UMA TISM, 1 47 

any stage of the disease. The term frequently ap- 
plied — " starvation cure " — is both misleading and 
disheartening to the patient : in fact, he is both 
starved and poisoned by eating when the hope of di- 
gestion and assimilation is prohibited, as is, in great 
measure, the case in all acute attacks, and more es- 
pecially when there is nausea or lack of appetite ; and 
he can only escape from the danger by abstaining 
temporarily. Dr. Wood's prestige in the natural 
treatment of acute rheumatism was obtained in hos- 
pital practice, where it is comparatively easy to " con- 
trol the symptoms " by withholding the cause, or, in 
other words, where the physician — providing the nurse 
is honest — can regulate the diet of his patients, abso- 
lutely. After such experience, it was less difficult for 
Dr. Wood to introduce this remedy among the most 
intelligent of his patients in private practice ; for he 
could recommend it as in no sense an experiment, but 
as a remedy of positive advantage and, in fact, indis- 
pensable, if the best results were to be effected. My 
own experience, so far as it goes, has been similar to 
that of Dr. Wood. Moreover, in chronic cases — cases 
of long standing — the best results may be hoped for — 
in fact the best possible results have invariably fol- 
lowed — from an abstemious (frugivorous) diet, to- 
gether with simple bathing, as special symptoms may 
indicate, — and an improved general regimen, as to 
fresh air, exercise (inaugurated gradually), beginning, 
perhaps, with passive exercise, as rubbing, etc., by 
the attendant. A chronic disease usually implies 
chronic provocation : Nature has simply commuted 



148 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

the extreme penalty of the law ; or, it may be likened 
to the reprieve of a convict under sentence of death, 
with an assurance of full liberty upon complete 
reform. 

Among the disorders radically and safely removed 

by fasting, is 

OBESITY, 

or any degree of excess in weight. Time, from ten 
days up. The weight, in this disorder, will diminish 
under the influence of fasting — by the waste and 
excretion of material that can best be spared (fat) — at 
the rate of from one to three pounds, or more, a day, 
which rate of progress can be increased, happily, 
by exercise in the open air. Entire abstinence from 
food will cause the fat to disappear, but there can be no 
regeneration of the muscular system — on the contra- 
ry, it must continue to deteriorate — without exercise. 
It is better, therefore, to keep up a good degree of 
exercise, and to eat a limited amount of food daily. 
It is not that the fat person eats or digests more than 
the lean one (he may not eat nearly as much in fact), 
but he excretes less. Exercise in the open air favors 
the excretion of waste matters which otherwise would 
be deposited in the cellular tissues. The fatty de- 
generation so much admired in infancy, aids in the 
production of emaciation and consumption at adult 
age. 

A fat person, at whatever period of life, has not a 
sound tissue in his body ; not only is the entire mus- 
cular system degenerated with the fatty particles,"* 

* A slice of steak from the loin of a stall-fed ox exhibits this disease very 
clearly : mark its " well mixed" appearance (a token of praise to the igno- 



FATTY DEGENERATION. 



1 49 



but the vital organs — heart, lungs, brain, kidneys, liver, 
etc.— are likewise mottled throughout, like rust spots 
in a steel watch-spring, liable to fail at any moment. 

The gifted Gambetta, whom M. Rochefort styled a 
" fatted satrap/' died (far under his prime) because of 
this depraved condition : a slight gun-shot wound, from 
which a "clean" man would have speedily recovered, 
ended this obese diabetic's life. Events sufficiently 
similar are constantly occurring on both sides of the 
water ; every hour men are rolling into ditches of 
death because they do not learn how to live. These 
ditches have fictitious names — grief, fright, apoplexy, 
heart disease, kidney troubles, etc., etc. — but the true 
name is chronic self-abuse. 

Says an agricultural journal : " The eggs of most 
fowls are infertile from too much pampering and too 
little exercise. It is not wise to fatten any animal 
intended for breeding purposes." The principle here 
involved does not relate simply to the fertility of the 
ovum, but to the health and stamina of all living 
creatures : fat is disease. Very fat women can not 
conceive, or, if they do, their children can not be born 
alive ; and those who are to any degree degenerated 
in this manner can not endow their offspring with the 
full measure of vitality to which they are justly en- 
titled ; while too often they are foredoomed to sickly 
lives and premature deaths. 

I can in no way better illustrate the relation of fat 



rant or reckless epicure), where the muscular tissue has given place to the 
globules of fat which denote unexcreted excess in diet, and deficient nutri- 
tion, from lack of exercise. 



150 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

to health and strength, than by repeating the remarks 
of an intelligent and observing young farmer. " I 
fatten my cattle," said he, " because it pays — the 
market demands fat creatures ; so I have my barn 
very snug and warm, and feed high. My neighbor, 
on the other hand, is what would be called a ' poor 
farmer ' ; that is, his buildings are not of the best, his 
barn has broad cracks all around, which gives them 
pure air, and his cattle are never fat. He works his 
oxen hard, gives them enough to eat to keep them 
in full health and vigor, but nothing for adipose. 
Mornings, in winter, when he turns his oxen out into 
the yard, they prance out like a lot of colts, kick up 
their heels and shake their horns like healthy creatures 
as they are ; while mine will almost tumble down 
over the door-sill ! His cows never give as much 
milk nor make as much butter as mine ; but they 
are never sick, while mine are sometimes, and I lose 
one now and then with i milk-fever,' or some other 
disease resulting from high feeding ; but I am farm- 
ing for profit, and my heifers bring an extra price by 
reason of the great milk and butter record of their 
mothers, and I can afford to have a sick or even a 
dead cow occasionally, providing I keep the fact 
quiet— not advertise the danger of the process neces- 
sary to ' drive the milk out of them/ " 

[Obesity being a disease peculiar to, and (terminat- 
ing in cholera infantum or some zymotic disease) es- 
pecially fatal in, infancy, the author has endeavored 
to treat the subject exhaustively in his work entitled 
" How to Feed the Baby." He would merely ob- 



FATTY DEGENERATION. 



151 



serve, in this connection, that in plant life or animal 
life, the universal law is a lean, lank infancy : those 
creatures and those slips which thrive continuously 
and reach a healthy maturity 2X^' never fat or stocky 
during the period of growth. The human infant only 
is sought to be made an exception to this rule ; with 
what success the mortality reports fully attest.] 



CHAPTER VIII 

BILIOUSNESS, "HAY FEVER," NEURALGIA, ETC. 

REGARDING this ridiculous (because unnecessary) 
disorder, Sir Lionel Beale, a recognized authority, 
says : " The bilious ' habit ' seems to be due to an 
unusually sensitive, irritable stomach and liver, which 
will discharge their functions fairly in a moderate de- 
gree, but which can not be made to do more than 
this without getting much out of order, [unless, I 
would remark, the needs of the system be augmented 
and, consequently, the digestive powers exalted, by 
means of increased exercise, less pampering, more 
outdoor air, the use of lighter clothing, etc.] Most 
of the organs'' he goes on to say, "taking part in the 
digestion and assimilation of food seem to strike 
work- when the bilious attack comes on. [It would 
seem more accurate to say that the ' strike/ resulting 
from overtaxation — excessive and unwholesome ali- 
mentation — constitutes the 'attack']. If food be 
taken, the suffering becomes greater. The fact seems 
to be, that the digestive organs require rest for a 
time, and if, when an attack comes on, this rest is 
given, the bilious state passes off, and the patient 
then feels extremely well, perhaps for a considerable 
(152) 



BILIOUSNESS, ETC. 1 53 

time. Persons of the ' bilious habit' should not 
[who should ?] eat ' rich ' foods, fatty matters, fried 
dishes, etc., etc., and should shun alcohol." He ad- 
vises little or no meat ; commends the vegetarian 
diet, fruits, and a good proportion of whoie-meal 
bread — corn, rye, and wheat. The free use of milk 
promotes biliousness, in many cases. Skim-milk 
often " agrees " when whole milk can not be taken in 
any quantity without causing much disturbance. 
Milk can not be called a natural food for man, and, 
indeed, many are obliged to relinquish its use alto- 
gether ; besides, as remarked elsewhere, there is much 
disease among cows, owing to the unnatural manner 
of feeding them, and in such cases the milk is im- 
pure. It is a safe rule for bilious subjects to abstain 
from milk altogether ; while butter, cream and cheese 
are still more objectionable. 

In the following complaints the benefit derived from 
temporary abstinence from food are most marked ; 
the acute symptoms, as catarrhal discharges, feverish- 
ness, or pain, shortly disappear (when the fast may be 
broken), and the disorders themselves may be eradi- 
cated by a wholesome regimen such as would, in the 
first instance, have prevented them : acute catarrh, 
" rose/' or " hay " fever, influenza, feverishness, fever 
(one to six days, or until convalescence), neuralgia 
(including headache and toothache). The list might 
be extended somewhat, but enough has been said to 
illustrate the principle that "fresh air, fasting, and 
exercise is Nature's triple panacea " for the pain and 
discomfort experienced in a wide range of disorders 

7* 



154 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

where the necessity exists for excreting poisonous 
elements, and resting the viscera concerned in ali- 
mentation. u This exasperation of irritation in the 
viscera, and for the most pai^t in the ganglionic net- 
work about the stomach and liver, ,, says an eminent 
medical author, " is an invariable concomitant and 
cause " [of neuralgia, and all chronic nerve aches]. 

HINTS AND APHORISMS. 

A well-knit frame never " drops a stitch." — A chilly 
person is a sick person : good health, not good clothes, 
nor artificial heat, keeps a man feeling warm. — A rear 
guard : " I shall bring him out of this all right," says 
the doctor, — u if no new complication arises "; and 
then he prescribes a drug or a compound of drugs, 
which tends to provoke the complication. For hun- 
dreds of years it has been, and, in general practice, 
still is the aim in sickness, to excite the organism to 
greater exertion in this, that or the other direction, 
by giving it more to do ; the new gospel teaches that 
the true theory is, to enable Nature to put forth 
her energies in the most life-saving manner, albeit in 
her own fashion, by giving her more to do with : 
fresh air, sunshine, cleanliness, water, — the latter pure, 
i.e., without the everlasting drug which constitutes 
the " more to do." It is a hackneyed expression, 
that " a man is either a fool or his own physician at 



Note. — It should be understood that aside from the above hint, the fore- 
going disorders are to be considered by the reader in connection with the 
teachingsjof this volume as a whole. (See concluding paragraph in the 
chapter on Bright's Disease. 



BILIO USNESS, ETC. 1 5 5 

forty"; but if he then find himself neither whole nor 
mending, he is a fool if he does not seek advice. 
Stomach digestion demands a period of leisure ; 
hence the rule, " Never eat till you have leisure to 
digest." — Assimilation and nutrition demand peace 
of mind, to ensure the best results ; in sickness, espe- 
cially, " the balance of power " often lies in this 
direction. 

Having studied the subject well and with all prac- 
ticable aid, settle upon a regimen, let it become sec- 
ond nature, and never worry about diet or think of 
your stomach ; but if that organ persists in making 
itstli felt, adopt a more abstemious regimen still, and 
go on again. 

Maria Giberne — artist and vegetarian, of whom at 
the age of fifty, Mozley said : " She is the handsomest 
woman I ever saw," and who " now at near eighty 
has the same flowing locks, though they are white as 
snow, and her talk and her letters are as bright as 
ever" — ascribed her wonderful preservation and un- 
failing health to her observation of the fasts [she was 
a Catholic] and her general abstemiousness. " Her 
diet consisted chiefly of bread and fruit, mostly apples. 
One apple in the middle of a long day she spoke of 
as a great refreshment. She had never to complain 
of the heat." 

We call it a disorder when Nature is really putting 
things to rights — bringing the order of health out of 
the chaos of disease : it is like " house-cleaning," 
where the mistress has let things run at loose ends 
for a long time — sweeping the dirt under the stove, 



156 THE NATURAL CURE OF 

behind the door, etc., and making unnecessary dirt — 
instead of keeping the establishment in order and 
thereby avoiding any occasion for a general up- 
setting. 

Says one of Boston's eloquent preachers, the Rev. 
M. J. Savage : " In nine cases out of ten, men and 
women might fairly be called to account for being 
sick "; and Dr. T. L. Nichols, the eminent hygienist 
of London, says the same thing, only in slightly dif- 
ferent language : " In nine cases out of ten, if people, 
when they found themselves becoming sick, would 
simply stop eating, they would have no need of drugs 
or doctors/' 

A certain class of temperance reformers sign pledges 
to be moderate in their indulgences, and not to 
"treat " or be " treated." This rule would be a hun- 
dred-fold more life-saving applied (rationally) to food 
than to drink. It is quite generally the custom to 
urge our friends to eat to repletion, wh^n they par- 
take of our hospitality. 

Given a natural mode of life and natural food, the 
appetite also would be natural, and the stomach 
would not accept more than it could digest. 

Nature appears, often, to be a lenient creditor, but 
she never neglects to collect her little bill, finally, 
with interest and costs of suit : " In the physical 
world there is no forgiveness of sin." 

The mandate, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou 
eat bread, has, in my opinion, a physiological basis : a 
man can eat with advantage only an amount corre- 
sponding to the exertion he puts forth, — a modicum 



BILIO USNESS, ETC. 1 5 7 

being allowed, of course, for the physiological labor 
of the organism. 

" Do not think these are unimportant things [ques- 
tions of diet, etc.], not dignified enough to be spoken 
of in the pulpit. I tell you they reach to your mind 
and to your morals; they reach to your theology; 
they reach clear to heaven, so far as you are concerned, 
and are of fundamental importance, touching your re- 
ligious and moral life a good deal more, sometimes, 
than what you think about the Bible, Sunday, or any 
other religious institution whatever." — Savage. 

"Nothing hurts me — I eat everything." (Next 
year) : " Nothing agrees with my stomach — I can't eat 
anything." Thus the dyspeptics* ranks are kept full 
with recruits from those who " don't want any advice 
about diet." 

" Indigestion is charged by God with enforcing 
morality on the stomach." — THOLEMY^S. 

Every appetite held in check, aids in restraining 
every other — making all serve the man, instead of 
the man them ; while every one let loose, tends 
powerfully to give free rein to all. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE FLESH-FOOD FALLACY 
[See Chapter III.] 

demands more than the passing notice accorded to it 
in the chapters on Consumption : The facts of chemis- 
try are eternal and indisputable, as are all the truths 
of science ; but, as between two kinds of aliment, or 
two substances which are being considered as to their 
adaptation to the purpose of nourishing the body, 
while chemistry accurately points out which contains 
the greatest amount of this or that constituent, and 
is often of service, as affording data for a presumption, 
in the absence of definite knowledge, she often fails 
to discover — despite the chemist's, or rather his blind 
pupil's dogmatic assertion to the contrary — which is 
really the most natural, and consequently the best 
adapted for the purpose of alimentation. In nothing 
do we observe this more strikingly than in a compari- 
son between flesh and vegetable foods. A three- 
column criticism of a former work (How to Feed 
the Baby), in one of our leading magazines, and 
which sums up its, merits by " hoping the book will 
be read by all on whom devolves the important duty, 
the care of children ; for it is an effort to institute the 
(158) 



THE FLESH-FOOD FALLACY. 



159 



correct principle of feeding ' the baby/ " contains the 
following upon the subject of animal vs. vegetable 
food : " We discover," says the critic, " on page 98 
that our author is a vegetarian, after all. In speak- 
ing of a nutritious diet whereby to enrich the breast 
milk, he makes the following startling statement : 
1 Unleavened bread, or mush, made from the unbolt- 
ed meal of wheat, rye, or corn, has very much more 
nutriment, pound for pound, than is contained in beef 
or mutton, notwithstanding the fallacy that classes 
the latter as hearty food/ This is only a declaration 
without proof, contrary to all authority on foods. 
We take the following table from Prof. Johnston's 
' Chemistry of Common Life ' : 

Lean beef. Wheaten bread. 

Water and blood •. 77 40 

Myosin or gluten 19 7 

Fat 3 1 

Starch o 50 

Salt and other mineral mat. 1 2 

" From which is deduced the fact, that ordinary 
flesh is about three times as rich in myosin or glu- 
ten as ordinary wheaten bread, or, in other words, a 
pound of beefsteak is as nutritious as three pounds 
of wheaten bread. In a second edition of Dr. Page's 
book, we hope he will correct this great error." 

It should be stated that bread made from whole, 
i.e., unbolted and unsifted, meal, is much richer in 
gluten and certain invaluable salts, than shown in the 
figures here given. 

Because the most careful observation on the part 



160 THE NATURAL CURE. 

of intelligent and conscientious men who have had 
the best opportunities for ascertaining the relative 
merits of these two classes of foods, viz. : nutrients 
proper, and the stimulo-nutrients, or, in other words, 
foods which are naturally adapted to the human or- 
ganism, and those substances (as, for example, the 
flesh of animals) which, along with a great deal of 
nourishment, contain elements which, being of an ex- 
cretory and noxious character, excite ox stimulate the or- 
ganism, and are, consequently, to that degree injurious 
— because, I would repeat, the proof is, in my estima- 
tion, overwhelmingly in favor of vegetable food, more 
particularly the cereals and fruits, so far from con- 
templating the " correction of this great error/' I de- 
sire to reassert, most emphatically, as a fundamental 
truth in dietetics, and in no sense an error, that, pound 
for pound, the cereal grains are not only more nu- 
tritious (speaking of their effects upon the human 
organism) than flesh, but, physiologically speaking, 
they are free from the impurities which abound in 
the latter, and which are often rendered still more 
noxious by the presence of actual disease among ani- 
mals fattened for human food. 

The advocates of flesh-food have a marvelous fac- 
ulty for misrepresenting some facts, and for the non- 
presentation of others which should appear if the dis- 
cussion is for the purpose of deciding the question on 
its merits. To illustrate : I find in Johnson's Ency- 
clopedia (Article on Hygiene, by a prominent physi- 
cian) the following : " It must be admitted that men 
can, under favorable circumstances, exist through 



THE FLESH-FOOD FALLACY. 161 

long periods without meat. This is shown in the in- 
stances of many tribes in Asia and Africa, who live 
almost entirely on rice and other grains, and also by 
many of the peasantry of Continental Europe, and 
the Scotch Highlanders who are confined to a diet 
containing very little animal food. Yet it is equally 
true that men can exist on meat alone, as is done by 
the Indian riders of the South American pampas, for 
months together." But the writer of the above (from 
ignorance of the fact, doubtless,) does not add, that 
those races who live upon a well-selected vegetable 
diet excel in every way — mentally, morally, and phys- 
ically — those races or tribes who subsist entirely on 
flesh. What would the above authority call " favora- 
ble circumstances " such as would enable men to 
" exist " without meat ? Was he thinking of the 
French officers, prisoners of war, who were fed, for a 
year or more, on rice and Indian corn exclusively, 
with water for their only drink, to return to their 
commands in improved health, to receive promotion 
by reason of vacancies occasioned by the death of 
comrades who had been favored with an abundance 
of meat ? Or of the muscular Japanese, hard-working 
men and finely developed women of whom a recent 
sojourner in Japan says : " The quantity of food they 
eat is astonishingly small when compared with the 
food devoured by meat-eaters from the Western world. 
.... Seemingly their frames are as tough as steel, 
not susceptible of cold or intense heat — going thinly 
clad in freezing weather, and not shrinking from the 
sun in its most oppressive season They are a 



1 62 THE NATURAL CURE. 

marvel of strength, and illustrate the lesson that 
health, strength, and endurance may exist on a light 
and scanty diet of rice and vegetables, together with 
fish. The Rikisha men are not so heavily molded, 
being of much slighter build, but they are also full of 
muscle, though not so prodigally developed [as with 
the class of laborers before referred to]. The fatigue 
these men undergo and withstand can be partially 
estimated when it is remembered that it is not con- 
sidered an extraordinary feat for them to travel forty 
miles a day with their seated passenger. No matter 
how hot it may be, while the passenger is complain- 
ing of the heat, he is being whirled along and pro- 
tected by his umbrella from the rays of the sun, and 
the motive power never flags. This Rikisha man 
keeps up a pace like a deer, his body generally bare 
to the sun, being guiltless of clothing that could in- 
convenience the free movement of the body or limbs. 
He takes but the slightest quantity of refreshment 
while on the road — a cup of tea and a modicum of 
rice being the extent of his gormandizing during the 
travel. And they repeat these exploits day after day, 
never eating meat." Of the women this writer re- 
marks : " With beautifully rounded arms and limbs, 
with smallest of feet and hands, and small-boned, 
they present the spectacle of what the human form 

should be in its natural grace and finish The 

women, young and old, are seen bearing loads upon 
their backs that the uninitiated in such work would 
not be able to stand up under. They will travel 
miles laden this way with a speed that would suffice 



THE FLESH-FOOD FALLACY. 163 

to tire an average Western woman if entirely unin- 
cumbered. In fact few of our women could at all 
walk the distance the old women do here while bear- 
ing heavy loads. And all this is performed on an 
abstemious vegetable diet." Thus it would seem 
that " the most favorable circumstances," to use the 
language of Johnson's contributor, to enable men and 
women to live " without meat," are plenty of hard 
work in the open air,* and a somewhat restricted 
diet ; for it must be remembered that the people of 
whom we have been speaking, are from necessity the 
least able to indulge in unlimited quantities of their 
peculiar food of all the people in the land. 

As to the moral aspect of the question, I grant that 
a man can not sin without knowledge. If he believes 
it necessary and right for the higher animals, elevated 
human beings, to slaughter and feast upon the lower 
— the gentle, mild-eyed creatures who serve and min- 
ister unto us so patiently, so faithfully, and, indeed, 
so lovingly— then to kill and devour is, for him, no 
crime. But if men were as ready to learn from their 
instincts, as they are to yield to their artificial crav- 
ings, the natural loathing which all, or most people, 
feel at the sight of bloodshed, and which so many 
experience at the bare thought of taking life, would 
teach us the unnaturalness and therefore the harm- 
fulness of a flesh diet. (See Appetite.) 

Finally, there remains to be answered, one argu- 



* It is very generally agreed by the most eminent medical men of all 
schools of practice, that in the absence of free exercise in the open air, ani- 
mal food must be abstained from. 



1 64 THE NATURAL CURE. 

ment, the most rational of all that are put forward in 
favor of the continued use of flesh-food, viz. : heredity 
and habit, and a " second nature " resultant therefrom. 
Even some hygienic writers argue stoutly the neces- 
sity of recognizing this law, as particularly applicable 
to this question, and declare the absurdity of the 
position assumed by those who demand the abandon- 
ment of flesh-food for all who would insure to them- 
selves the blessing of health. While affirming that 
the vital organism may in a few years, even, become 
accustomed to the use of almost anything, no matter 
how repugnant or destructive it naturally is, as opium, 
liquor, tobacco, etc., provided the process be gradual 
enough, they still hold that with regard to animal 
food, a substance acknowledged by them to be un- 
wholesome, the organism can not become accustomed 
to its non-use until generations of better habits have 
remodeled the organism to suit the conditions. 
Theoretically, it would seem grossly absurd to say 
that when, as is the known fact, cats, dogs, bears, and 
the like, can thrive perfectly on a strict vegetarian 
diet (I have, myself, tried this successfully with the 
first two), that man alone has no hope this side the 
grave of being able to abandon animal food ! In 
practice, it is found that the only thing required is to 
convince the mind of an individual of the unnatural- 
ness and unwholesomeness of flesh-food ; then if he 
be conscientious the battle is won, and it only remains 
to furnish him with a diet suited to his needs, (the 
selection and preparation of which, many hygienists, 
however, are far from comprehending fully ; hence 



THE FLESH-FOOD FALLACY. 165 

the only reason I can find for the continuance of the 
mixed diet in any case). But if he be either uncon- 
vinced or lacking in moral force, he can not be harmed 
by the presentation of the vegetarian theory, for he 
will continue his flesh-eating and take the conse- 
quences. . So long, however, as any hygienist favors 
even a moderate indulgence in animal foods as a 
necessity for most people throughout their lives, his 
followers will take it upon themselves to decide as to 
what constitutes moderation, just as is the case with 
coffee, liquor, and tobacco-users, only the former (by 
reason of their ignorance as to what constitutes health 
and symptoms of disease) have no such means of 
recognizing the symptoms of excess, as have the 
latter. The truth is that " abstinence from all un- 
wholesome practices, only, is easier than temperance." 

Note. — This chapter is particularly recommended to the notice of mem- 
bers and friends of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Animals. 



CHAPTER X. 

AIR-BATHS. 

With a view to the exaltation of the condition of 
the entire organism, as well as simply that of the di- 
gestive and assimilative system — and in addition to 
the reform already suggested as to clothing, i.e., a 
reduction in the number and weight of garments 
habitually worn, when these have been supera- 
bundant, — I would say to all classes, sick or well, 
that great advantage will be derived from habituat- 
ing themselves to transient exposure of the entire 
surface of the body to the air. Often enough, we 
observe persons sitting heavily clad, in a warm room 
and close to the fire, and yet feeling " shivery " and 
sure of having " caught cold." To throw off all 
clothing would banish such chills instanter, especially 
if the person begins to give himself a brisk hand-rub- 
bing. The skin is sweltered, and is numb for want of 
circulation in the capillaries. In the case supposed 
the person has prevented a u cold." Next to the water- 
bath, which is, of course, or ought to be, an air-bath 
and water-bath combined, the simple air-bath is in- 
valuable as a prophylactic or a curative ; and in very 
(166) 



AIR-BATHS. 



167 



many instances, say for several mornings in each 
week, and whenever the usual water-bath is not con- 
venient, the air-bath will prove an excellent substi- 
tute. In place of dodging from the sweltering bed 
into his heavy day-clothing, the robust man will be 
far more likely to maintain his vigorous condition by 
doffing his night-shirt and indulging for the space of, 
say, five minutes or less, in brisk hand-rubbing all 
over, however cold his sleeping-room, and again on 
going to bed ; while the delicate ones should, with 
due caution, inaugurate the same system (some 
will-power has to be exerted), but graduated, as 
to temperature and duration, to their special con- 
ditions—advancing as their physical condition im- 
proves under its influence until they are no longer 
members of that immense army — the victims of 
" aerophobia. " Patients themselves too weak for 
even the exercise of self-rubbing will still derive 
great benefit from the air-bath, in a temperature, say, 
of 65 , with an attendant to rub them briskly from 
neck to heels. Set in practice in a rational manner 
this custom will never injure the most delicate person, 
but on the contrary will always prove beneficial. It 
will not bring the dead to life, nor, indeed, " cure " 
the moribund ; but it is one of Nature's most efficient 
aids — it is Nature herself, in very truth — and I have 
seen patients who were thought to be hopelessly ill, 
begin to take on what seemed to be renewed life, 
largely through this new use of fresh air, and the dis* 
missal of the tinnatnral dread of it. For example : 



1 68 THE NATURAL CURE. 

CHRONIC DYSPEPSIA CURED BY FASTING 
AND FRESH AIR. 

A patient, Mrs. T., of New Hampshire, a very 
bright lady indeed, and one who appreciated the 
necessity of fresh air, had yet, through a very deep 
decline, in addition to a life-long invalidism, become 
hyper-sensitive to cold, wrapping and over-wrapping 
to guard against chilliness, fearful of the least current 
of air. Both relatives and friends were discouraged 
as to her recovery — it even being urged, after I had 
taken the case, that if, as it seemed, there were no 
hopes of her getting well, she ought to have some 
" medicine to ease her pathway to the grave/'* 
This was in the month of October of the year 
1882, when she came under my care. I induced her 
to leave off eating, since eating was particularly dis- 
agreeable, and only served to keep up the chronic 
inflammation of the entire digestive and neighboring 
viscera, causing her a great deal of suffering and threat- 
ening her with starvation. [Referring to her first let- 
ter (written by her sister), describing her condition, I 
find such expressions as these : " My physician, who 
feared heart disease, as my mother and one sister had 
died of it, becoming alarmed at my symptoms, desired 



* Her disease was chronic dyspepsia : the stomach was so irritable that it 
could seldom retain anything — at least a portion of even the smallest ordi- 
nary ration would be ejected — the liver was very much congested and en- 
larged ; the bowels were obstinately Constipated ; there was extreme emacia- 
tion, and but little strength, though, generally, great good nature and cheer- 
fulness in spite of her ailments. Had been taking chloral for wakefulness, 
and iron and strychnine as a tonic. She took no medicine after becoming 
my patient. 



AIR-BATHS, 



1 69 



a consultation, and Dr. , Professor of Cardiac 

Diseases at College Hospital, was called. 

He said heart was all right, but lungs weak. I was 
well drugged, but when they stuffed me on cod-liver 
oil and beefsteak I would have inflammation of the 
stomach and liver and, of course, grew worse, with 

such a terrible ache at the base of my brain 

Was brought to N. H. (from Brooklyn, N. Y.) in 
May, and had congestion of the liver shortly after. 
My physician, here, ordere^l iron and strychnine, but 
it did no permanent good. All my friends say I am 
starving to death, and unless you can advise me, I 
fear that I shall, for I am terribly emaciated even 

now My aesophagus, stomach, and liver are 

in an irritated condition, .... am sore all over, — 
can not sleep at night ; have taken chloral by physi- 
cian's advice. My flesh has a yellow-purple color — 
arms and hands grow quite purple at times/' etc., etc.] 
I directed her to throw away her medicine — iron and 
strychnia, aconite and chloral — bottles and all, — as the 
first step, telling her that whether she was to live or 
die, she should be made more comfortable without, 
than with medicine. For the exhausted digestive 
organs, I directed entire rest, as before stated ; and 
for seven days she swallowed nothing but cool or hot 
water.*" For the first three or four days many of her 
symptoms increased in severity — not a bad sign. At 
the same time I succeeded in removing from her 
mind the dread of air-currents, improving the ven- 
tilation of both the sleeping and sitting room, and 
she, furthermore, begun the system of air-bathing 



* See note 3 in Appendix, p. 279. 



170 



THE NATURAL CURE. 



here enjoined. On the seventh day she reported 
by letter that she felt as though something " more 
nourishing than water would be very acceptable/' 
that she had some very nice pears and Delaware 
grapes, and would like to try them. I directed her 
to take a breakfast of fruit every morning ; and, at 
night, a dinner of two or three unleavened gems 
(made from unsifted wheat-meal and mixed stiff with 
cold water), with a very little fruit, and a cupful of 
skimmed milk (no buttej, cream, or any kind of 
animal fat), beginning with a single gem ; the milk to 
be taken last, by itself, and each swallow to be held for 
a moment in the mouth. Under this treatment she is 
making excellent progress — not rapid and fictitious, as 
we often enough witness under a stimulating regimen, 
but a real, natural growth healthward. She rides out 
in all weathers, walks a mile or two every day to and 
from the neighbors, aids in the work about the house, 
and on December 9th, about two months after she 
began the " natural cure," she reports by postal as 
follows : " I am still on the hygienic tack and grow- 
ing stronger, though I still have some aches to assure 
me that I am mortal. I ' sleep beautifully/ with 
window open in all weathers. I enjoy my air-baths 
every morning in the hall (a portion of the time), with 
the mercury at zero ! " (She is now in robust health.) 
Benjamin Franklin had observed the invigorating 
effects of this practice and would often, in moderate 
weather, rise from bed in the morning and, entirely 
nude, write for an hour or more, and then dress for 
breakfast. When wakeful at night, the great philoso- 



AIR-BATHS, 171 

pher found that by throwing off the bed-coverings 
for a few minutes he could then re-cover and fall 
asleep and sleep soundly.* Finally, so deeply was 
Franklin impressed from his own experience and ob- 
servation in this direction that he proposed to cure 
all diseases by means of the air-bath, combined with 
plain and abstemious living. His idea concerning 
the most popular of all disorders may be inferred 
from the following : " I shall not attempt to explain 
why ' damp clothes ' occasion colds rather than wet 
ones, because I doubt the fact. I imagine that neither 
the one nor the other contributes to this effect, and 
that the causes of colds are totally independent of 
wet and even of cold." (Essays, p. 216.) 

Dr. James R. Nichols, of Boston, the well-known 
scientist, thus emphasizes the importance of this form 
of bath : 

" One of the most sagacious, far-seeing men this 
country has produced was Doctor Franklin. He was 
in all that he did and said far in advance of his age 
and of his opportunities, and his wisdom was of that 
rare kind which does not grow old. His discoveries 
and devices were not partial and imperfect, but such 
as have needed little revision or improvement. 



* One may be partially stifled and made wakeful by confined air about 
the skin, as well as asphyxiated with bad air in the lungs. The eminent Dr. 
B. W. Richardson, of London, lays great stress upon the necessity, and has 
himself devised a means, of ventilating the space about the person in bed — 
a very gradual change of the air being insured. Next to any special me- 
chanical device for the accomplishment of this object, and perhaps all suffi- 
cient generally, comes the use of loosely woven sheets and blankets, instead 
of heavy linen or cotton sheets and " comfortables" which are well-nigh air- 
tight. 



1 72 THE NA TURAL C URE. 

" The lightning-rod he devised is to-day the best 
form we have, and his method of applying it to build- 
ings needs no special modification. His open-fire* 
place stove is still largely in use, no better one having 
been devised. His philosophical theories and specu- 
lations were so rounded out, so clearly and sagaciously 
developed, that many of them stand to-day as fixed 
facts in philosophy and science. Among his impor- 
tant discoveries was the ' air-bath/ a sanitary or cura- 
tive agent which is of the highest consequence to the 
welfare of mankind. It may be said that he did not 
present the matter in much practical detail, but he 
suggested it, used it, and gave reasons for believing 
in its high importance. 

" We have made the air-bath a matter of careful 
study, and wish to call the attention of the readers of 
the Journal to it, as a means of securing and pre- 
serving health, which is of the first importance. It is 
impossible for physicians or individuals of ordinary 
sagacity to fail to see that a large proportion of in. 
valids and semi-invalids do not bear well the applica- 
tion of either cold or tepid water to the body. A 
man or woman must naturally be of strong constitu- 
tion and in robust health to arise in the morning, in 
cold climates, and stand under the icy streams which 
come from a shower-bath, without breaking down in 
health at an early day. The sponge-bath is less in- 
jurious, but it saps the vitality of many to a fatal 
extent, and feeble persons are rarely in any degree 
benefited by its use. The tepid bath, as a curative 
means, constantly followed weakens rather than 



AIR-BA THS. 



173 



strengthens, and many can not continue it for the 
space even of a week. Bathing, beyond the needs 
of perfect cleanliness, is not generally to be recom- 
mended. Mankind are not aquatic animals, like 
ducks and geese ; they are not born on or in the water, 
and nature never designed that they should be splash- 
ing about in that element within the lines of the tem- 
perate or frigid zones 

■ ; The air-bath is a means of recuperation which 
needs to be intelligently and carefully adopted, and 
like all other good things must not be abused. There 
are hundreds of thousands of people of both sexes, in 
this country, who lead miserable lives, and yet they 
are not in bed, not perhaps confined to their dwellings ; 
they suffer from nervous prostration, from imperfect 
digestion and assimilation, from worry, from overwork, 
from the care of households, etc. A vast number in 
the mighty army of invalids are not themselves to 
blame for their physical weaknesses ; their idiosyn- 
crasies of organization come by inheritance 

" Now, the air-bath comes to the feeble and physi- 
cally impoverished as a kind and good friend ; and 
let us see how we can obtain from it the highest 
good. Nearly all semi-invalids are inclined to seden- 
tary habits, and as the circulation is languid the body- 
in winter is under a persistent chill. In the morning, 
upon getting out of bed, the clothing can not be too 
quickly adjusted, as the body is in a shiver ; and the 
air of a cool room is a thing to be dreaded. 

" The morning is the time for the air-bath, and all 
that is required is a hair-cloth mitten [a towel, or 



1 74 THE NA T URAL C URE. 

even the bare hand alone will answer, however,] and 
a moderately cool room. When the invalid steps 
from the bed to the floor in the morning, let the hair 
glove or mitten be seized, and without removing the 
night-clothes proceed to rub gently all parts of the 
body, at the same time walking about in the room 
until a feeling of fatigue is experienced ; then drop 
the glove, and gently pass the hand over all parts of 
the body before resuming the clothing. [Unless the 
nude body is extremely sensitive to cold, it may be 
exposed to the air for a few moments, even on the 
first morning]. The next morning jump out of bed 
in a moderately cool [never a ' close/ but always a 
ventilated] room, and go over the same process as 
before, remaining a little longer exposed to the air 
after the rubbing. The third morning repeat this 
treatment ; and on the fourth, or at the end of a 
week, take off all the night-clothing, and briskly apply 
the hair glove, first with the right hand and then with 
the left, all the time walking about. Follow up this, 
as the degree of strength permits, morning after 
morning, until the body is so rejuvenated and the 
blood so attracted to the surface, that the cool air is 
felt to be a luxury. Let the body be entirely nude, 
no socks upon the feet, no scarf about the chest. At 
first, or after the first week, perhaps, the exposure to 
the pure cool air may be three or four minutes ; soon 
increase the exposure, until, after a month or two, the 
air-bath may continue for twenty minutes or half an 
hour. Do not fail to walk about during the first 
month, using the hands in polishing the skin. After 



SCROFULA. 



175 



the first month the patient may sit in the air of the 
room part of the time, but constant, gentle exercise 
is best. 

" Now, another most important curative agent con- 
nected with the air-bath is sunlight. In summer, 
sunlight is accessible, but in winter only the late risers 
can secure its benefits. [There is no reason why 
morning should be regarded as the only appropriate 
time for this skin-airing. On the contrary, some will 
find midday even better, though morning is for most 
persons the most convenient time. Many can not de- 
vote any other hour to this work ; others will not 
have the energy, i.e., the good sense to disrobe for 
an air or sun bath during the day.] If possible, sit 
and walk in the sunlight during the bath. It is as- 
tonishing what the direct actinic rays of the morning 
sun can do for an invalid, when the whole nude body 
is brought under its influence." 

SCROFULA. 

A sick niece of the Mrs. T. whose case is reported 
on p. 168, living in New York, learning of her aunt's 
" miraculous cure/' resolved to renounce medication 
and come home for hygienic treatment. Her disease 
is scrofula, and her condition was such that her friends 
had well-nigh abandoned all hope of her recovery. 
With non-healing ulcers, increasing in number on 
body and limbs ; weak, languid, with neither strength 
nor ambition to move about ; emaciated from 120 to 
88 pounds — it did seem as though her case was a 
most critical one, indeed. Nevertheless, on the clean, 



176 THE NATURAL CURE. 

pure, nutritious diet which had restored her relative 
— largely " natural/' wholly abstemious, and free from 
all animal fats (see foot-note, page 231) — modified to 
suit her particular needs — taken morning and night, 
with appropriate air and water baths, etc., she soon 
began to show signs of improvement. After two 
months' trial, her aunt writes that her niece is cer- 
tainly gaining. This gain must be real instead of 
fictitious, since it is impossible to attribute it to any 
artificial stimulation. The sores are beginning to 
heal ; her strength is increasing, by exerting it daily 
— drawing, at first moderately, but increasing her 
drafts from day to day, upon the " reserved force," 
each draft being overpaid, so to say, by subsequent 
rest, food, sleep, etc., thus daily increasing her physi- 
cal bank account, — there now seems every prospect 
that this young wife will ere long be restored to her 
home as good as new. [Both aunt and niece take 
their meals in their private rooms, alone, the total 
quantity and variety to be taken at each meal only 
appearing on the table ; there is, therefore, no temp- 
tation for " trying a little more " of this, that, and the 
other thing, which almost inevitably leads to excess, 
and consequent impairment of appetite ; no taxing 
of the sick brain to be "agreeable " to a " tableful" 
of healthy persons, to interfere with the digestion.] 



CHAPTER XL 

SALINE STARVATION — CAUTION. 

The danger to which I am about to allude — a real 
danger, as I believe — does not refer to abstinence 
from artificial salt, but rather to the loss of certain 
essential elements contained in the grains, fruits, and 
vegetables, owing (i) to their being cooked at all, 
and (2) to bad cooking. Vegetables form a large pro- 
portion of the food of even those who live on the 
" mixed diet "; and unless cooked (see Natural Diet) 
in the best manner, a large part of certain of their 
elements may be lost, and a degree of starvation re- 
sult therefrom. For example : potatoes, when peeled 
and over-boiled, lose nearly one-half of their potash. 
So, too, when they are kept boiling until the skins 
break open — the " mealy " potato, often preferred, — 
more especially if they are permitted to remain in the 
water any length of time thereafter, a large addi- 
tional percentage of valuable matters must be dis- 
solved and turned away with the water. The chief 
aim should be to retain all the elements contained 
in the food articles, whether the cereals, vegetables, 
or fruits. Hence all of those substances that arc ac- 
ceptable in a raw state should be thus eaten ; and 
8* (177) 



178 THE NATURAL CURE. 

when any of them are cooked, it should be (referring 
particularly to vegetables) done upon the principle 
adopted by well-informed cooks in boiling meat ; they 
put the meat into boiling water, let it boil vigorously 
for a sufficient length of time (say ten or fifteen min- 
utes) to " close the pores/' as they say, and confine 
the juices within the meat, and then the kettle is set 
back where the water will keep hot, just " simmer- 
ing," until the work is completed (four to eight hours, 
according to size of the piece of meat). The same plan 
should be used in cooking vegetables, except as to 
time — they are "done " when the fork passes through 
them easily. The impoverishment of vegetables, as 
sometimes cooked, is poorly compensated for — not 
at all, in fact, except in flavor — by the use of artificial 
salt ; while this substance, so universally used, is alto- 
gether unnatural and injurious, in proportion to the 
amount swallowed. The loss of the natural salines, 
in the manner referred to, is especially observed by 
vegetarians who dine at ordinary tables, where exclu- 
sion of animal food and white bread is the only selec- 
tion they can make. It is of vital importance for 
food-reformers to understand and guard against this 
danger — not that they will suffer more than those 
who take the mixed diet, for in fact the reverse is 
true (their whole-meal bread being a great aid) — but 
being, as it were, on exhibition before the world, it is 
important for them to obtain and enjoy all the ad- 
vantages pertaining to the system they advocate. 

Says Dr. Hunter : 

" It is an old and a cruel experiment, that of the 



SALINE STAR VA TION, 



* 79 



French academicians, who fed dogs on washed flesh- 
meat until they died of starvation. The poor animals 
soon became aware that it was not food, and refused 
to eat it. Were our instincts as natural, no charming 
of the eyes or tickling of the palate by our cook would 
persuade us to swallow those washed and whitened 
foods that deceive us into weakness. 

" Analysis of the liver and other important vital 
organs after death, show that in some diseased states 
these organs contain only one-half of certain saline 
matters that are invariable in the healthy organ. 
And not only so, but that in proportion to this de- 
ficiency the organ is useless for its work. In fact, a? 
the organ changed its tissue (as does every part ot 
the body every three or four years), and was com- 
pelled to renew itself in the absence of sufficient pot- 
ash and phosphates, it did its best to preserve its form 
and structure much as a fossil does. It rebuilt itself 
as best it could of such material as would make tissue 
with the minimum of potash ; but such tissue, whilst 
useful and conservative in retaining the form, elas- 
ticity and contractility of the organ, is as useless for 
secretion and excretion as a fossil liver/* 

The want of knowledge, not only on the part of 
the laity, but medical men as well, regarding such 
questions, and health matters in general, is exhibited 
in the utterances heard on every hand : " The doctor 
says the trouble is with my liver/' explains one who 
hasn't a sound tissue in his entire body. u My blood 
is bad — so the doctor says."* " ' He ' gave me some- 



Strangely enough the belief prevails, generally, that the blood is a fixed 



1 80 THE NA TURAL CURE. 

thing for my blood " — or my appetite, or my kidneys 
as the case may be — it might as well be "for my 
grandmother" " The first thing to be done," says an 
eminent physician, after citing an hypothetical case, 
" is to clear out the liver "■; and then, after apologiz- 
ing for " what might seem to be an unscientific ex- 
pression," he continues : " I have already explained 
the way in which certain purgatives may be said to 
have the effect of clearing out the liver, and first 
among these we must reckon mercurials." The italics 
are my own. He then offers a generous dose of blue- 
pill " every night, or two or three grains of calomel 
either alone or combined with extract of hyoscyamos 
or conium, and this," he continues, "should be fol- 
lowed next morning by a saline draught." Mercury, 
to poison and exasperate the entire organism, and 
then a saline potion in the hope of getting rid of the 
mercury ! And then he offers a grain of sense — a 
homoeopathic dose, indeed, but drowned in a deluge 
of something vastly worse than sugar and water : 
" But even with all this care in food and drink, with 
all this attention to what is to be taken and what 
avoided, how are we to keep the liver in order with- 
out exercise f " Again, the underlining is the author's. 
How, indeed, without attention to all the simple laws 
of life — " so simple," says Schopenhauer, " that we 
refuse to understand them ! " 



quantity ; whereas, in fact, it is constantly changing 1 , second by second, used 
up and cast out, and replaced from the food ; so that if one's blood is im- 
pure to-day, he may at once begin to make a better article, by making it of 
better material, — not by u tinkering it up" with drugs or so-called "blood 
purifiers." 



SALINE S TAR VA TION. 1 8 1 

Dr. Hunter continues : 

" Not only the liver, but the kidney, spleen, and 
brain, and the small blood-vessels in every part of the 
body share in this degeneration of tissue ; and strangely 
enough (and not unlike the French experiment), this 
amyloid, waxy, or lardaceous tissue is indigestible by 
the gastric juice. It is washed flesh made inside the 
body, and is good for nothing either dead or alive. 

" The washed flesh fed to those poor dogs con- 
tained abundance of nitrogen and carbon ; but these 
alone, as Liebig remarked, were as useless as stones 
in the absence of saline matters — not of cotmnon salt, 
be it remembered, for that is found in excess in the fos- 
sil organs 7nentioned. The essential salines that can 
be readily washed out of food are chiefly two — potash 
salts and alkaline phosphates. These are also the two 
that are found deficient, about 50 per cent, in the 
waxy form of degenerated tissue. This is the type 
most common in atrophied children, and in persons 
suffering from consumption* and other wasting dis- 
eases ; but it is not uncommon in the capillaries and 
small arteries of many who seem in health. 

" When vegetables are soaked in cold water to 
keep them fresh, when they are blanched in hot 
water to please our eye, or when they are well boiled 
and their essence drained off that we may eat the de- 
pleted residue, those soluble salines are almost en- 
tirely extracted. And what are left? Chiefly the less 
soluble salts of lime and magnesia — just those ele. 



* See chapters on u Consumption.' 



1 82 THE NATURAL CURE. 

ments so abundant in the cretaceous, degeneration of 
blood-vessels. 

" Potash is the alkaline element of formed tissue ; its 
absence is one great cause of scurvy, as well as of the 
waxy and perhaps the cretaceous types of degener- 
ation.* A little examination of our modern com- 
moner foods will show how deficient they are in this 
element. 

" Bread was, I suppose, at one time, the i staff of 
life/ but it could hardly have been white bread. Of 
it, one pound contains about seven grains of potash, 
or nearly twenty grains less than a pound of brown 
bread. Potatoes, if peeled, steeped and boiled in 
plenty of water, contain only about twenty-one grains 
in the pound, as against thirty-seven if boiled in their 
skins. The skins surpass the center about four-fold 
in salines. Cabbages and all leafy vegetables lose 
much more, as the water gets right through every 
portion of them. 

" Arrowroot, cornflour, and most of those prepared 
foods are more deceitful than the washed flesh of the 
French academicians. Stewed fruits, as made by 
some cooks, are also guilty of the wash. Even por- 
ridge, haricot beans, pease, etc., are by some cooks 
soaked when raw (this water being thrown away), 
and thus much depleted/' After simple washing, all 
vegetables, including beans and pease, if soaked at 
all, should be boiled in the water in which they are 
soaked ; and, finally, the water from which the cooked 



* See chapter on " Bright's Disease." 



SALINE S TAR VA TION. Y 83 

vegetables are withdrawn, should be used as " soup 
stock " thickened with bread, rice, or sliced vegetables, 
and seasoned with meat, if meat is used at all. Con- 
taining as it does a large percentage of the salts from 
the vegetables, this water supplies the necessary "sea 
soning" far better than artificial salt. Turnips, in- 
stead of being sliced before boiling, should be boiled 
whole. Onions are every way better boiled before 
peeling. At first, the taste, accustomed to the fla- 
vor (!) of depleted vegetables, — or rather to the con- 
diments with which they are prepared, — has to be 
educated to the real flavor of whole food*. And, 
again, such food being more nutritious, less in amount 
must be eaten, upon pain of indigestion. " No won- 
der if this generation finds itself degenerating. Like 
a ship built of rotten timber, a man fed on depleted 
food goes all very well in good weather and with a 
light load ; but when one can neither bear an average 
load, nor undergo unusual fatigue, let him cross 
question his cook." * 

The truth is that, to a very great degree, we build 
our bodies out of t>lood made from impure materials : 
(1) in part from food depleted by cooking or improper 
cooking, (2) in part from substances which, as all are 
agreed, can be " indulged in " only to a limited ex- 
tent (who can define the limit?), (3) in great measure, 
from fermented, instead of well-digested food ; — and 
having thus built up "fossil" bodies (still more fossil- 
ized by the use of unnatural drinks which u prevent 



* Charles D. Hunter, M.D., F.C.S., in Herald of Health. 



1 84 THE NATURAL CURE. 

the waste of tissue "), there must be sickness. There 
is no escape from it, except by a " right about face." 
The zymotic, and the various acute diseases, so 
called, are in point of fact acute remedies for chronic 
disease. 



CHAPTER XII. 

WHEAT-MEAL VS. " ENTIRE FLOUR." 

Without doubt, certain brands of " whole-wheat 
flour," so called, are a great improvement over the 
article in universal demand among poor and rich 
alike, the white flour of commerce, in this : they are, 
when made by honest manufacturers, less impover- 
ished than the white flours. In public and in pri- 
vate, I have advised their use instead of white flour, 
but solely upon the ground that the wheat is less 
robbed of certain of its invaluable constituents in the 
former ; but I can not conceive it possible to separate 
the hull from the kernel without real loss, even if the 
hull were, in itself, objectionable, which, so far from 
being true, is, in my opinion, a mistake and a very 
serious one. The theory upon which the objection to 
the outside coat of the grain rests, is that this coat is 
composed of woody fiber, entirely indigestible and 
devoid of nutritive matters, and, worst of all, say 
these honest objectors, the hulls are coarse, sharp- 
edged, and irritating to the stomach and intestines, 
and therefore injurious in their action, especially in 
the case of " sensitive and delicately organized in- 
dividuals." I will not stop to discuss the question as 

(185) 



1 86 THE NATURAL CURE. 

to the propriety of the phrase sensitive and delicately 
organized, as applied to the class of poor, suffering 
wretches who by reason of their gross habits — and I 
mean simply the dietetic habits of the people, not the 
mechanic, the artisan, the small trader, nor yet the 
factory hand, nor the wretched poor, but the human 
race, from the kings, queens, and presidents all along 
the line — who by reason, I repeat, of the universal 
system of diet, have become dyspeptic. I can not, 
however, forbear the remark, that the most sensitive 
and delicately organized individuals, among the most 
noble of all animals next to man, — and in some as- 
pects far superior to him, — the horse, in his finest and 
most delicate state, finds a perfect food in the whole 
grain, chewing it himself. I may be, in the minds of 
some, weakening my argument by comparing the di- 
gestive apparatus of man with that of the horse, but 
I am desirous of impressing upon the minds of my 
readers the well-known but imperfectly considered 
fact, that our horse-fanciers, — who dote on their hun- 
dred-thousand-dollar animals, and who would place 
before them the most costly and complicated dishes, 
certainly would feed them on the finest and whitest of 
flour," — " Imperial Granum" even, at drug-store prices, 
if it were desirable, or even not pernicious in a health 
point of view, — really keep their dearest pets on bread 
and water ; and that, because of this, and the absence 
of all the hot, stimulating articles, solid or fluid, in- 
dulged in by their owners, and their regular and mod- 
erate diet of uncooked food, and their superior hy- 
giene in certain essential matters, our thorough-bred 



WHEAT-MEAL VS. "ENTIRE FLOUR." 187 

horses are generally saved from becoming fat, sick, 
mean, wheezy, or dyspeptic, like their masters and 
mistresses, men, women, and children. 

We know that the microscope shows up the ragged 
edges of the hulls and gives them a fearful aspect ; 
but if the microscope could reasgm, and if it was given 
to arguing all questions submitted to it, I fancy it 
would speedily silence these objections to wheat-meal, 
so far as they rest upon the matter of the coarseness 
and the irritating capacity of the hull, by asking the 
microscopist to take a little glance at the stomach it- 
self: an internal view of the digestive tract would 
disclose the fact that, even in the case of the most 
" sensitive and finely organized " subject, the lining 
of the stomach, for example, bears a stronger resem- 
blance to a quartz mill than do these terrible hulls to 
sticks and stones. The trouble has been with those 
who seek to improve too much over Nature's meth- 
ods, and especially is this the case in the question 
under discussion, they have reasoned mainly from one 
side of the question. Machinery has accomplished 
no end of good things, and without doubt has even 
greater victories yet in store, in its legitimate field ; 
but that field is not in the line of improving on the 
food that Nature provides for us humans. It can and 
does improve over the old methods of sowing, reap- 
ing, threshing, and cleansing the various grains — no 
one desires to dispute this ; but when the ripe, clean 
kernel of wheat, for instance, is placed before us, the 
office of machinery is ended, except so far as crushing 
the grain for those whose teeth or temper will not ad- 



1 88 THE NATURAL CURE. 

mit of chewing it. A shrewd though illiterate stable- 
keeper said to me, in advocating whole, instead of 
cracked corn for horses and cattle, " it gets the juice 
of their teeth, and does them twice as much good. 
Give them meal, or cracked corn, and they don't have 
to chew it long enough to get the right action of the 
saliva." 

People who neglect the most obvious hygienic rules, 
thereby bringing upon themselves sickness and pain, 
and search for special articles of diet that may seem 
to promise relief, remind me of a junk-dealer who 
would pass by old stoves, pots, kettles, and crowbars, 
and search for a needle in a hay-stack ! The theory 
of the anti-wheat-meal men seems plausible at first 
sight, and it has been held, temporarily, by some very 
sound men ; but one after another these have dropped 
it as untenable. To be sure, the ranks are kept full by 
new recruits, who join faster than the thinkers fall out. 
There are a thousand dyspeptics for every discerning 
man, and, in any event, all such — all persons, in fact, 
are to be congratulated when they adopt a compro- 
mise in the shape of fine flour which claims to give 
them all the essential elements of the wheat, and yet 
save their " delicate " and sensitive stomachs needless 
labor and irritation. But I find that the class who 
are saving lives constantly, hold to the entire meal as 
the only means of securing perfect bread — the staff 
of life. 

Says Oswald : " We can not breathe pure oxygen. 
For analogous reasons bran flour [whole meal] makes 
better bread than bolted flour; meat and saccharine 



WHEAT-MEAL VS. "ENTIRE FLOUR." 189 

fruits are healthier than meat extracts and pure glu- 
cose. In short, artificial extracts and compounds are, 
on the whole, less wholesome than the palatable 
products of nature. In the case of bran-flour and 
certain fruits with a large percentage of wholly innu- 
tritious matter, chemistry fails to account for this fact, 
but biology suggests the mediate cause : the normal 
type of our physical constitution dates from a period 
when the digestive organs of our (frugivorous) ances- 
tors adapted themselves to such food — a period com- 
pared with whose duration the age of grist-mills and 
made dishes is but of yesterday." 

This doctoring of the cereals can never prove of 
service in the end, except to the manufacturers and 
dealers ; these " preparations/' however honestly 
made, and supposing for argument's sake that the 
machinery accomplishes what the manufacturers in- 
tend, will never, in and of themselves, — i. e., except 
so far as they take the place of white flour — prove 
beneficial to mankind, and* least of all to sick people, 
valetudinarians, and the sedentary classes, — the very 
ones who need the best. Imagine a constipated 
dyspeptic, with a heavy fur coat on his tongue, and, 
of course, a heavier one on the lining of his stom- 
ach — his entire alimentary canal so covered with 
this morbid growth that digestion and absorption arc 
well-nigh prohibited — alarmed lest the microscopic 
particles of wheat-hulls should injure his delicate and 
sensitive inwards ! " Delicate ! " lk sensitive ! " why, 
it takes half a cupful of salts to move them, and that 
but faintly, while a pint of strong coffee makes no 



190 



THE NATURAL CURE. 



impression ; when if they were even normally sensitive 
a tablespoonful of the former, or a single cup of the 
latter, would purge them violently. Sensitive ! they 
are dead, or at least dying. Why, for this class of pa- 
tients, I would sooner add the straw than remove the 
hull, as better calculated, by all odds, to meet the 
necessities of their condition. On the other hand, 
when the disease assumes the opposite form — when 
the tongue is raw, and the intestinal tract acutely in- 
flamed, and from any cause preternaturally sensitive 
— there is but one thing in the Materia Medica of 
Nature that is absolutely fit to swallow, and that is 
pure water. (See Chronic Dyspepsia.) It matters 
not what else is comforting, temporarily, — medicine, 
gruel, beef-tea, milk, or what not, — the comfort and 
advantage are derived solely from the water, which 
constitutes three-fourths to nine-tenths of the whole ; 
the other elements being injurious, and, often enough, 
fatal, preventing as they do the healing of the inflamed 
mucous membrane. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

FRUIT. 

It is with difficulty that one who comprehends the 
question can restrain his impatience when people 
talk about the danger of indulging in fruit in summer 
or at any other season. " Better leave an order on 
the doctor's slate/' says the would-be wit, when his 
friend passes with a watermelon or some early apples 
or peaches. As spring and summer come along, 
fruit is altogether natural, even if it does come from 
a little further South. That is one of the advantages 
of having railroads. These unwise people who dare 
not eat fruit, or eat it sparingly, while they stick to 
their winter diet of meat, grease, pastry, c^jTee, etc., 
are the ones who have the cholera morbus and other 
equally ridiculous things. It sometimes happens that 
these good people have had a " scare " in this fashion : 
one eats an excessive meal of fat and lean meats, old 
vegetables, with plenty of gravy, etc., all hot and 
heating, and calculated to create a febrile condition 
of the system, and insure an " attack " of indigestion. 
He has also eaten a piece of watermelon or other 
fruit — the only pure, natural substance appropriate 
for the time he has swallowed for the day. If, under 

(191) 



1 9 2 THE NATURAL CURE, 

these circumstances, he is routed at midnight, he de- 
clares he will never eat another piece of melon as 
long as he lives! It may be that the fruit, if he 
ate liberally of it, was the exciting cause of the clear- 
ing out that otherwise might not have taken place 
just then ; if so, he should congratulate himself that 
he has been saved a later attack that might have 
cost him his life. Had he eaten double the quantity 
of fruit on an empty stomach, providing his system 
was in decent condition, there would have been no 
startling consequences. The stomach which refuses 
to accept raw fruit, or with which it does not " agree," 
is like that of the drunkard which rebels against pure 
water. When anyone has become diseased to that 
degree the sooner he begins to reform his habits the 
better. In 1863 I was captured by the Confederates 
and marched out of Brazier City, La., and taken to 
Shreveport. When captured, I had diarrhoea — the 
result of a flesh-food diet, wine, and all the " good 
things of life." The disease became chronic, and I 
was nearj^ying. The melon season was on (it was in 
July), and in sheer desperation, ignorant of the bene- 
fits to result from it, rather expecting disaster, I ate 
freely of watermelon. For eight or ten days I took 
no other food or drink, but with this I filled myself 
twice a day, and a return to perfect health was the 
result ; all trace of bowel trouble had disappeared. I 
have since had many opportunities for observing the 
benefit arising from the use of watermelon and nothing 
else, in diarrhoea, upon various persons, young and 
old, and I have never observed any harmful results 



FRUIT. 



193 



from its use ; though it is often made the scapegoat, 
as indicated above. 

In a certain little borough in a neighboring State 
there was little or no fruit, not even apples, to any 
amount. There was a great deal of sickness every 
summer— diarrhoea, dysentery, fevers, etc. One enter- 
prising resident planted an orchard — a generous one 
in size — and its owner was generous also. He didn't 
watch the neighbors' children very closely — not as 
closely as he did his own — and true to boys' instincts 
they hooked apples, green apples, little bits of apples, 
hard and sour, and they ate them freely. The chil- 
dren of the owner of that orchard did not eat green 
apples, for their father, although believing in fruit, 
thought it must be ripe to be " healthy." His chil- 
dren had the regularly recurring summer complaints, 
but the little apple-stealers did not. Without doubt 
fruit is more truly wholesome ripe than green ; and I 
would here remark, that the craving for vegetable 
acids which these boys had, and which most children 
experience, would not be felt if they were properly 
fed at home. Still, one may eat too much even of 
fruit : " gold in the morning, silver at noon, and lead 
at night/' might better be changed to diamonds, 
gold, and silver; and but for other considerations, 
unappreciated by those who fancy that it is " heavy " 
at eve, there would be a restriction in almost any- 
thing at the last meal sooner than in fruit. Care- 
ful observers have remarked that fruit is a prophy- 
lactic, and is also curative, taken on an empty stomach 
but is likely to promote indigestion if added to a 



I 9 4 THE NATURAL CURE. 

hearty meal of mixed food."* This is one way of say^ 
ing : after having already over-eaten, or having eaten 
enough, eat nothing more. Surely any kind of fruit 
added would be less injurious than to swallow another 
plate of the soup, fish, or meat. The old Roman 
gluttons used to take an emetic after dinner; and in 
this country it has been the custom in times past with 
some, and it is not altogether obsolete even now, to 
take a " dinner-pill " before or after the principal meal. 
The morning draught of " seltzer " or other laxative, so 
common at the present day, serves the same purpose ; 
and those people who, after obstinate constipation, 
feel comparatively happy over a violent purging from 
some form of artificial physic, are the ones who warn 
against using much fruit, because, upon some occa- 
sion, it may have performed a similar service, though 
without any of the injurious effects of the drugs. 
In warm weather the diet may well consist largely of 
fruit and succulent vegetables. Scrofulous children, 
especially, might live solely on fruit for days together, 
with great advantage. Such children should live in the 
open air as much as possible, and their sleeping-rooms 
should have the most thorough ventilation. If their 
noses and ears run in consequence of " exposure," 
never forget that these poisonous matters are better 



* As before intimated, only the stomach disordered and enervated from 
the use of hot and stimulating kinds of solid and liquid food, spices and con- 
diments, refuses to "agree" with pure, ripe fruits. Such a stomach re- 
quires a fast day, followed by the plainest and most abstemious diet, with a 
gradually increasing proportion of fruit as the stomach recovers u tone." In 
all cases fruit requires to be thoroughly masticated, and reduced as nearly as 
possible to a fluid state before being swallowed. 



FRUIT. 195 

out than in, and that whatever aids in their elimina- 
tion is curative. A simpler and purer diet will pre- 
vent the formation of catarrhal or scrofulous matters. 
Any degree of restriction in the matter of air and ex- 
ercise can only be counteracted by a corresponding 
restriction in diet ; but a generous allowance of all 
three is the safest rule. Sedentary persons, loiter- 
ers at the mountains or by the sea, can not easily 
make the proportion of fruit too large, even if during 
a torrid wave they eat little else. It should be taken 
at the regular meal hour only, to insure the greatest 
degree of health and comfort, should be thoroughly 
masticated, and the quantity may be just short of 
causing pressure at the kidneys, or flatulency, yet 
enough to prevent thirst. Three meals might then 
be indulged in with safety. The heavy dishes — 
meats, gravies, greasy articles, hot condiments, pastry, 
hot stimulating drinks — things that even in winter, 
in this climate, are only tolerated, and that but 
poorly, are deadly now, as the mortality reports, 
and lists of those who are said to have succumbed 
to the heat, attest. Moreover, for every one who 
pays the penalty with his life, tens of thousands 
are lying or sitting about, suffering the tortures of 
the damned, often; and all for a few minutes extra 
palate-tickling, or unnatural indulgences, rather, — for, 
leaving out the really unseasonable articles and condi- 
ments, they might revel in ripe fruits with comparative 
impunity. He is a poor student in dietetics, a thought- 
less observer, even, who can not so regulate his eating 
as to regard summer as the most agreeable season of 



ig6 THE NATURAL CURE. 

the year, — the most comfortable, — who can not bid 
defiance to the heated term and laugh at the danger 
of " sunstroke " though running a foot-race under the 
noonday sun. Calorific food, superadded to the pre- 
disposition already existing, is the real source of 
these strokes in every instance, the external heat fur- 
nishing, to be sure, the " last straw." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE ONE-MEAL SYSTEM. 

In this note I propose to do little more than record 
a few instances, out of many, of persons who have 
lived for longer or shorter periods, and continue to 
live, on one meal a day, and let my readers draw their 
own inferences, merely remarking that these cases 
have a very great significance as bearing upon the 
question of the quantity of food 'best suited to nourish 
the body and promote health. Dr. Abernethy, a cel- 
ebrated English physician, affirmed that " one-fourth 
of all a man eats sustains him ; the balance he retains 
at his risk"; but his countrymen eat four meals, at 
least, -r 

The case of Mrs. Solberg, an emaciated dyspeptic, 
whose restoration to health was accomplished by the 
one-meal vegetarian diet and " a change of air " (at 
home), is mentioned in the chapter on Malaria. 

S. N. Silver,* of Auburn, Me., a hard-working me- 



* Mr. Silver is 30 years old and is 6 feet, 2 inches in height. On the three- 
meal system his greatest weight was 137 pounds. For two years past, on 
the new plan, he has weighed from 150 to 160 pounds, according to his work. 
When he works hard he eats more, and gains in weight ; when his work is 
light he eats light and his weight falls off correspondingly. This illustrates 
a truly physiological diet. It should always be thus with man and the do- 

(197) 



1 98 THE NA TURAL C URE. 

chanic, has, for upwards of three years, lived on the 
one-meal-a-day plan. He eats at night, after resting 
sufficiently from his day's work. He never eats more 
than seven meals per week, not even so much as an 
apple between meals ; and on Sundays, unless he takes 
considerable exercise, his " meal " consists of fruit only 
— three or four apples, for example. He is a typically 
healthy young man, and has not in three years expe- 
rienced a moment of physical inconvenience. He is 
a vegetarian, and lives wholly on simple, pure food, 
chiefly bread and fruit. 

Mrs. Wieman, a sister of the above, has, for upwards 
of a year, taken but one meal a day, although she 
prepares three hot meals for her husband and several 
boarders. She does the entire household work for her 
family, which during the past summer consisted of 
nine adults. Her one meal (taken at noon because 
the regular dinner is at that hour and furnishes a 
better variety) fe no more in amount than her dinner 
formerly, when she took breakfast and supper in ad- 
dition. She is a perfect specimen of robust health, 
and finds that she can now perform with ease an 
amount of labor which formerly would have been a 
severe tax, even if possible to accomplish. Her diet 



mestic animals alike. In practice, however, the reverse is the rule : the 
weight increases during leisure and decreases when hard wor<k is done. 
Both our athletes and race-horses are permitted to fatten between times, and 
are fitted for sharp work by reducing their weight by exercise. In other 
words, they are allowed to become diseased, and then they are "cured." 
This process is apt to result, finally, in premature death, or at least so ex- 
hausts the vital forces as to render former accomplishments impossible, at 
an age when the individual should be in his prime. 



THE ONE-MEAL SYSTEM, 199 

is mainly vegetarian ; she eats but little meat, and 
that only because it is constantly before her; and she 
avoids white flour and most forms of pastry alto- 
gether, as well as hot stimulating drinks, condiments, 
spices, etc., although her table is bountifully supplied 
with all such things. 

Still another of this family, a busy milliner, has 
lived in this manner for several months, and finds her- 
self improved in health by the means. 

Aside from the immense amount of knowledge 
gained through vivisection — through dead animals, I 
may say — the lives of the lower animals teach us 
what to do, in some respects, as well as what to avoid. 
Alas, for humanity — claiming such superiority — in 
both classes there are important lessons which are 
not generally learned and practiced. As bearing 
upon the one-meal system, I will let Capt. B., an old 
hunter, tell his experience with his fox-hound : " The 
old fellow/' said the Captain, " knows when I am 
going on a tramp as well as my wife does — when I 
turn out for a hunt, in the morning — and he won't 
touch a mouthful of food."* I used to try and \ fool p 
him, by acting as if I wasn't going out at all, and 
sometimes I could get him to eat breakfast. But I 
never try that game now, for I noticed, after a while, 
that when he fixed himself, he did better work than 
when I managed to get a breakfast into him." " How 
so?" I asked. "Why, he is a better dog ; he runs 



* This is a characteristic of most hunting; dogs — not the exception. It is 
not that they know more about dietetics than their masters, for I do no: 
think they do, but, gluttons as they are, they "rather hunt than eat." 



200 THE NATURAL CURE. 

better, scents better, barks better, and comes in at 
night in better shape. And then, if we walk home, 
he gets pretty well rested and has his ' breakfast ' be- 
fore a great while ; or, if we ride, he has it as soon 
as we get home ; and (if it is cold weather) I let him 
lie in the sitting-room an hour or two after he eats, 
and then he will go to his kennel and sleep all night, 
and without trembling ; and he turns out next morn- 
ing in good shape for another tramp, if called on." 
"Do you ' fix* yourself in the same manner?" I 
could but ask. " Not much" he replied ; u I eat be- 
fore I start, and take a lunch along; but I don't 
know but the old dog has the best of it, after all." 
As a matter of fact, the aged dog is like a sprightly 
youth still, while his master, at middle-age, is a de- 
crepit old man. 

The importance of rest after meals has never 
been fully appreciated by people in general. Even 
those who advocate the need of it, have usually, — 
perhaps because of the difficulties in the way of de- 
manding more, — asked for only a half, or a whole 
hour; while it is the popular belief that " exercise 
after eating promotes digestion," and the fact is cited 
that Sunday is, to the laborer, the worst day of all 
the week, — a day of leisure, affording ample time for 
digestion, if that is all that is required. But that is 
not all. The " bad feeling " which comes on after the 
second meal on Sunday — the "Sunday headache," of 
which so many complain — results from the radical 
change of habit from the six days of hard labor : ac- 
customed as he is to digesting a large part of his three 



THE ONE-MEAL SYSTEM. 2 Ol 

meals together, at night, after he has earned them, 
physiologically speaking, — that is, after his labor has 
provided the digestive fluids in the blood, by means 
of which his food is dissolved, and made ready for ab- 
sorption into the circulation, — when Sunday, with its 
leisure, and possibly even more than usually exces- 
sive indulgence, comes, instead of having the blood 
diverted to the general muscular system, as the result 
of active labor, it is called to the stomach and the 
circulation becomes overcharged with nutritive ma- 
terial. Hence lethargy, tendency to sleep, headaehe, 
etc. 

The fact is, 

EXERCISE AFTER EATING 

by preventing digestion, often delays or modifies the ill- 
feeling which would otherwise be experienced shortly 
after over-indulgence at the table. Hence gentle ex- 
ercise in the open air will prove the least of two evils ; 
an emetic, the best of all remedies. The liquids* 
being to a great extent absorbed, plethora is prevented 
or delayed because the solids remain undigested in 
the stomach ! But this solid residue, favored by the 
internal temperature, begins to ferment, after a time, 
and causes more or less irritation and congestion of 
the mucous lining of the stomach, which gives rise to 
the sensation popularly called "hunger"; and thus 
every few hours, and when the patient impatiently 



* In case of an ordinary "mixed meal," water composes something near 
four-fifths of all ; solids, pure and simple, one-fifth. Even roast beef is 
about three-fourths water, and vegetables the same. 



202 THE NATURAL CURE. 

awaits the call to dinner and thinks himself most in 
need of food, he is, in fact, in the very worst condi- 
tion to take it. Ninety-five persons in every hundred 
have this disease (for it is nothing less than chronic 
dyspepsia) throughout life. The fact that the meal 
affords immediate relief argues nothing against this 
position ; it is the seventy-five or eighty per cent. 
of water contained in and taken with the meal that 
relieves the congestion. It forms a poultice, so to 
say, for the congested mucous membrane of the 
stomach ; but unfortunately it can not, as when ap- 
plied externally upon a throbbing sore thumb, for 
example, be removed when it becomes dry. We see 
this disease at its worst in infancy, when meals are 
most frequent and excessive. 

Jules Virey settled the question, as it seems to me, 
regarding the effects of work after eating. He took 
two dogs of same size, age, and general physique ; gave 
both a fast-day, and then treated them to a square 
meal, alike in quantity and variety. One was sent to 
his kennel, while the other was permitted to follow 
the carriage which conveyed the doctor on his rounds. 
After the coach-dog had had two hours and a half of 
(not vigorous, but gentle) exercise, and immediately 
on his return, the doctor had both dogs slain and dis- 
sected. The kennel-dog had thoroughly digested 
his breakfast, — not a trace of it was found in his 
stomach, — while with the other, the work of digestion 
had not even begun ; the mutton cubes and potato 
chips remained intact, precisely as when first eaten. 
It is evident from this that the rule, " Never eat un* 



THE ONE-MEAL SYSTEM. 203 

til you have leisure to digest,"* is a good one, and 
that for a hard-working person (what man or woman 
works as hard as the enthusiastic hunting-dog?) 
the one-meal-a-day system would often prove the 
best, — indeed, in some instances, this would be the 
only means of preventing sickness. We may not 
know in how many instances the laborer digests his 
breakfast, dinner, and supper together (or about all 
that he does digest) after he is in bed for the night. 
Any approach to such a state is provocative of dis- 
ease. 

The dyspeptic's dreams, which disturb his sleep, 
rob him of needed rest, and often cause him to wake 
more tired than when he went to bed, would be ban- 
ished, or at least favorably modified, if, at the close 
of his day's work, after sufficient rest from the 
fatigues and cares of the day, he were to take his 
well-earned ration, and, after a period of recreation, if 
there still remained time for this, go to his bed. 

Another instance I will mention, that of the man 
who may almost be called the father of hygiene in 
this country. He says : " I have tested the sufficiency 



* It by no means follows that the man of all leisure, or the " loafer," can' 
because of abundant rest after meals, digest the large quantity of food he 
may be tempted to swallow. On the contrary, he probably does not digest 
one-fourth of it. The balance is assuredly retained to work him injury at 
last. No man really digests, speaking strictly, in excess of the physiologi- 
cal needs of his organism ; the fact that one man " carries off," so to S] 
an immense amount of food without apparent or immediate inconveni 
argues simply that he has greater excretory capacity — perhaps was endowed 
originally with a greater degree of vitality — than another who is constantly 
troubled though eating less and working more. Persons of the latter class 
still exceed their normal amount ; hence their digestive troubles. 



204 



THE NATURAL CURE. 



of eating once in twenty-four hours [he has himself 
lived on this system for eleven years, and continues 
so to live ; and has, besides, tested its advantages upon 
patients in certain forms of disease] and have done 
work enough to put a much younger man to his 
trumps if he had to do it. My food is very simple ; 
I do not eat more at one meal than almost any per- 
son eats who takes three meals a day ; I keep my 
body well built up in flesh and in vigor of muscle, 
considering that incurable organic difficulties render 
great muscular activity impracticable. I keep up my 
own strength, and have held in check my constitu- 
tional conditions so that I have reached old age" [72 
years]. 

I could mention a score or more of similar in- 
stances ; and, as stated elsewhere, no person ever 
tried the plan and found occasion for abandoning it, 
except from considerations utterly remote from 
health. In fact, under certain circumstances, as in 
travelling, this system is a most beneficent one ; it 
makes a person independent of railway restaurants 
and lunch-counters ; for at some time during the day, 
usually, as at night in a good hotel, one can obtain, 
if not always a really hygienic meal, still a compara- 
tively good one. 

With reference to the amount of food to be taken 
at the single meal, I have observed this : those who 
would be termed hearty eaters, on the three-meal sys- 
tem, will usually eat no more at their one meal than 
formerly at dinner alone ; some, indeed, find much 
less than this suffices to sustain them in the best 
manner. This is largely due, however, to the superior 



THE ONE-MEAL SYSTEM. 205 

quality of their diet, since people of this class invari- 
>ably become, practically, vegetarians and, withal, use 
a large proportion of bread, a pure nutrient, instead 
of flesh, a nutro-stimulant. The amount of food 
taken, under any circumstances, will depend largely 
upon one's views as to the true office of eating. 

In the case of a certain class of dyspeptics who, 
while going to the table three times every day, yet do 
not eat, all told, a single satisfactory meal ; who in 
the entire year, perhaps, scarcely know the comfort 
of eating a full meal, and who live on in this manner 
year after year, the one-meal system would banish their 
nausea and lack of appetite within a reasonable time, 
and, in some instances, such persons would eat, and 
with a relish long unknown to them, more food every 
day than they now force down at their three or more 
attempts at eating. There would also result a corre- 
sponding improvement in their general health, more 
especially if this reform were accompanied by others, 
when needed, ks to fresh air and exercise. 

Says Dr. Nichols, of London, who speaks with 
knowledge, from having tested it : " The one-meal-a- 
day system will largely increase any person's working 
capacity." 

Note. — One item well worth considering, especially by the laboring: 
classes who find it so difficult to support a little family on $S or $10 per 
week, while imitating the dietetic habits of their employers : Dr. T. L. 
Nichols, named above, experimenting as to cost of living, has lived week in 
and week out, in London, at a cost (for food) of sixty or eighty cents per 
week (taken two meals then), maintaining full vigor, and weight, and per- 
forming arduous literary labors, combined with a somewhat active mode of 
life. Personally, the author was never more vigorous or better fitted for 
hard work, — in short, better nourished, — than when living for several months 
on the i-meal plan and on a diet of unleavened Graham gems and fruit, the 
total cost of which was less than ten cents per day. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE NATURAL DIET * 

As the result of personal experience, my mind 
having been called to the subject by the success- 
ful experiment — if, indeed, it can be regarded as an 
experiment, — of a very intelligent and worthy fam- 
ily in Southern California, I am convinced that the 
" natural diet," — uncooked cerealsf and fruit, — is the 



* This subject having been treated in a most masterly manner by 
Prof. Schlickeysen, of Germany — considering fully the chemical and ana- 
tomical theories, and presenting the anthropological, the physiological, and 
the dietetical arguments so clearly and convincingly — I design here merely 
to give a few practical tests illustrating the advantages of a truly natural 
and pure diet, while recommending every devout student of this subject, 
every conscientious and thoughtful person to procure the work, entitled 
Fruit and Bread, — translated from the German by Dr. Holbrook, and pub- 
lished by M. L. Holbrook & Co., New York, — and read it for himself. 

t Even as late as the time of the Roman republic, the baking or other 
cooking of grain was regarded as injurious. When the grains are first 
broken, but not finely ground, they may be eaten with fruit, if one gradually 
accustom himself to it. Let it not be said that this is going too far, for in 
the recognition and application of truth we can not go too far ; rather have 
those gone too far who have deviated from this metnod. The difference 
between pure cracked wheat and the bread is always considerable. The 
bread consumes in its digestion [a part of] the power which itself supplies, 
while the wheat not only nourishes, but, like fresh fruit, increases the vital 
strength. — Frztit and Bread, p. 163. 

" The vitality stored up in uncooked plants and fruits is greatly impaired 
by all our culinary processes." — Ibid., p. 116. 

"Animals in a state of nature, subsisting upon their own chosen foods. 
(206) 



THE NATURAL DIET 207 

diet par excellence, as regards strict purity, digesti- 
bility, and efficiency. Not only is much less of it 
required to maintain the normal weight and strength, 
but it is in other regards superior. One thought 
I will suggest, in this connection, and one which 
is more significant, I believe, than many persons 
would at first consider : raw grain, as all are aware, 
will " keep " indefinitely under fair conditions ; while 
cooked, it " spoils " in a day or two. The former is 
more readily and more thoroughly preserved from 
undesirable changes in the alimentary canal ; hence 
less liability of indigestion. Such portions of whole 
grain as may be swallowed without mastication, 
will pass on and out without danger of the putre- 
factive changes which result from an excess, or de- 
ficient mastication of cooked food. Regarding the 
gustatory pleasure to be derived from a diet of this 
sort, while it is less seductive to the abnormal appe- 
tite, still, even here, no individual really needing food 
would find this disagreeable, though reference were 
made solely to whole wheat, masticated with the aid 
of good teeth ; or to the meal, mixed with nice fruit 
juices or the fruits themselves, when, from unnatural 
living, the teeth are badly decayed. Our teeth would 
not fail us if, from childhood, we used them, and our 



are capable of fully digesting the nutritive elements, leaving only an i no (Ten- 
sive residue, while the unsuitable character of human foods is sufficiently in- 
dicated by the horrible and disease-breeding product which they yield. — IHd. n 
" Uncooked fruits, especially, excite the mind to its highest activity. After 
eating them we experience an inclination to vigorous exercise, and also an 
increased capacity for study and all mental work ; while cooked food causes 
a feeling of satiety and sluggishness." — Hid. 



208 THE NA TURAL CURE. 

food furnished the material to build and maintain 
them. 

Were I to enumerate the foods at present eaten 
raw by all of our millions of people, less surprise 
would be felt by my readers at the suggestion of re- 
stricting one's diet to such articles as are agreeable in 
their natural state. Take, for example, apples, pears, 
peaches, grapes, oranges, etc. ; all of the plums ; ba- 
nanas, dates, figs, raisins ; cabbage, lettuce, celery, rad- 
ishes, etc. ; and to this list might well be added sweet 
corn, and the common variety of green corn, and 
peas ; few people but find the latter delicious to their 
taste, and the corn is as much more crisp and juicy 
and wholesome raw than cooked, as are peaches or 
pears. I know individuals who were never fond of 
corn, would never eat it until happening to try a fresh 
young ear au naturel, who now use it freely every 
summer. This would be the case with very many, if 
not most people, if their prejudices were cast aside. 
I have named only a few articles of a few classes, but 
any one can extend the list at pleasure, adding wal- 
nuts, almonds, filberts, etc., etc. Unfortunately these 
raw foods have been commonly used as surfeit dishes, 
delicious articles that we can eat after having already 
over-eaten, and when more steak, potatoes, and gravy, 
or pastry, would, perhaps, send a shudder through- 
out the frame, and, often enough, w T hen an emetic 
would be a more wholesome dessert than even walnuts 
and raisins. Let any one, first arranging for a clean 
stomach by skipping supper the previous night, try a 
breakfast consisting of a couple of bananas, one or 



THE NATURAL DIET, 209 

two dozen walnuts (or any sort preferred), with a 
handful of nice raisins, — both the nuts and raisins 
being thoroughly masticated, the latter to the point of 
well crushing the stones, — ending, or beginning, the 
seance with oranges, and, at night, the second and last 
meal, of favorite fruits, beginning with a small portion 
of "oat groats" or wheat, (of course any other choice 
may be made, a dozen, or a score, indeed, from week 
to week,) taking care to exercise enough to " earn " 
his food,* and see if this principle of alimentation 
will not cure his disorders, whatever they may be. It 
would end the wretched business of "colds" and 
"hay-fever" which, according to the Boston Herald, 
a noted American divine says, " will make a man for- 
get his God, the Bible, and everything else — but his 
disease." Even the common hygienic diet, so called, 
and abstemious living, would make such blasphemy 
impossible, and would make a better man of the great 
London preacher, for example, — Mr. Spurgeon, — who 
recently wrote to a friend, and, apparently without 
the least shamefacedness : " My old disorder has 
come upon me like an armed man and laid me low. 
I can not walk or even stand, and the pain renders it 
difficult to think consecutively upon any subject/' 
And this with reference to a disorder (the gout) 
caused by eating and drinking unwholesomely — the 
injury being augmented, directly and indirectly, by 
the use of tobacco or wine. Mr. Spurgeon's weight 
is fifty, if not seventy-five pounds greater than is nor- 



* " Live on sixpence a day and earn it," was the " favorite prescription" 
of a famous London physician. 



2 io THE NA TURAL CURE. 

mal for him, considering fully his natural physique, 
and the use he makes of his muscular system. He 
may be in the habit of restricting his appetite ; he 
may eat much less than most of his associates, and 
even be esteemed a small eater and very abstemious ; 
nevertheless his form is gross, and he has the gout- 
two unimpeachable witnesses to the truth of my 
position. 

" We can not doubt," says Dr. Oswald, " that the 
highest degree of health could only be attained by 
strict conformity to Haller's* rule, z>., by subsisting 
exclusively on the pure and unchanged products of 
Nature. This view is indorsed (indirectly) in the writ- 
ings of Drs. Alcott, Bernard, Schlemmer, Hall, and 
Dio Lewis, and directly by Schrodt, Jules Virey, and 
others. In the tropics such a mode of life would not 
imply anything like asceticism : a meal of milk and 
three or four kinds of sweet fruits, fresh dates, banan- 
as, and grapes, would not clash with the still higher 
rule, that eating, like every other natural function, 
should be a pleasure and not a penance. Heat de- 
stroys the delicate flavor of many fruits, and makes 
others indigestible by coagulating their albumen. 
But/' continues this authority, — and I am not disposed 



* Albrecht Von Haller, M.D., F.R.S., the father of the science of phys- 
iology, born at Berne, Oct. 18, 1708 ; . . . . practiced medicine with great 
applause at Berne, 1729-36 ; . . . . became physician to the King of En- 
gland 1739. He was a voluminous writer on physiology, anatomy, botany, 
surgery, and practical medicine ; author of ... . almost an incredible 
number of reviews and scientific papers. His hypotheses were .... ad- 
mirable for their scientific spirit, and for the great stimulus which they gave 
to physiological study throughout Europe. — Encyclopedia. 



THE NA TURAL DIE % 2 1 1 

to dispute the soundness of the position, speaking 
generally (as, indeed, Dr. Oswald, himself, was speak- 
ing), — "in the frigid latitudes, where we have to 
dry and garner many vegetable products in order to 
survive the unproductive season, the process of cook- 
ing [some classes of] our food has advantages which 
fully outweigh such objections." To the very rational 
assumption that, " few men with post-diluvian teeth 
would agree with Dr. Schlemmer that hard grain is 
preferable to bread," I would reply, that for people 
who could not or would not grind their own grist, as 
do our most robust animals — well nourished, but 
hard-working draught or road horses — the whole- 
wheat meal, freshly and coarsely ground, with a light 
dressing of rich milk,* or, more wholesome still, eaten 
with nuts and thoroughly masticated, is more deli- 
cious than bread, even if made from the same quality 
of Graham. If the Graham be taken dry, with a few 
raisins at each mouthful, it would require a fine taste 
to distinguish between this and the walnuts and rai- 
sins so generally acceptable to epicures. If the milk 
dressing is used, it should simply be poured over the 
(unsifted) Graham, and not made into a batter. With 
a dish of Graham as described, and such fruit as can 
usually be obtained all the year round, either fresh 
or (in winter) dried, as apples, raisins, dates, figs,f 
prunes (the last, like dried apples, peaches, etc., 

* See note 4 in Appendix, p. 280. 

t These three — raisins, dates, figs,— containing as they do in their natural 
state, about 14, 58 and 62 per cent., respectively, of sugar, require no addi- 
tion of saccharine matters to ''preserve " them ; and, accordingly, they con- 
stitute, as we find them in the market, a perfectly natural and wholesome 
food, taken in due proportion, with grain and the various nuts. 



2 1 2 THE NA TURAL C URE. 

soaked not overmuch, but until tender), one may 
make a meal sufficiently delicious, and at the same 
time absolutely pure — if the milk is derived from a 
healthy creature. And here I would remark, that al- 
though cow's milk is a strictly natural food for the 
calf only, still, if the cow be properly fed (-not 
"driven,"* as is the custom in dairies) and the milk 
properly cared for — kept free from air vitiated by the 
emanations of decaying vegetables, meats, or other 
source of impurity, but open\ in a pure atmosphere — 
few need abstain altogether from this most delicious 
food. Nevertheless, no one may feel at liberty to 
drink milk copiously, as water: calves, babies, etc., 
whose natural food it is, take it slowly and " chew " 
it thoroughly ! We may well take a hint from this. 
(See Biliousness.) 

In making the change from cooked to uncooked 
food, the unassisted novice will experience more 
or less inconvenience, usually ; and this will arise 
from one of three causes ; perhaps two or even 
all three causes will combine to create the uneasi- 
ness (and indigestion, even, sometimes) experienced : 



* A phrase used to describe the process of feeding excessively to produce 
an abnormal (low of milk. Under this practice the cows soon become tuber- 
culous ("consumptive") ; and it is said that they become useless after three 
or four years, on an average : they are "driven to death," unless disposed 
of just prior to their decline. Nursing mothers often suffer from this disease, 
while the infant fattens and becomes sick from overfeeding. 

t Kept in a close vessel, milk soon becomes foul ; and after being thus 
enclosed requires considerable stirring to aerate it, when it again acquires 
its normal flavor. Cistern water treated to an occasional deep stirring will 
remain sweet ; and when the water in a cistern has become devitalized for 
want of air simply, it can be reclaimed readily in the above manner. 



THE NA TURAL DIET 2 1 3 

(1) the stomach, adapted, so far as possible, to 
the digestion of cooked foods, requires some time 
(and experience or practice) to adapt itself to the 
new order of things,* hence indigestion, varied 
in extent according (a) to the abruptness of the 
change, and (&) the quantity of the new food taken ; 

(2) accustomed to distention from the bulky charac- 
ter of the old diet, if only a physiological ration of 
the pure and more nutritious food be swallowed, the 
stomach misses the stimulus of distention : time will 
be required (in some cases) for the stomach to re- 
model itself as regards size — unless a large proportion 
of fruitf is used in conjunction with the cereals. 
Some dyspeptics, to be sure, by their " mincing " diet 
occasioned by nausea and lack of appetite, seem to 
have reduced the size of their stomachs, even below the 



* It has been observed that cows are temporarily affected adversely by any 
change from their established diet — give less milk, at first, when grain is 
added to their pasture rations, as well as when they are deprived of an ac- 
customed feed of grain. " The effect is due to the action of the stomach, 
to adapt its character to the digestion of an established food. The food 
may change suddenly, but the action of the stomach can only change slowly, 
and hence defective digestion follows." — {National Live Stock Journal). 
With humans, as has been already remarked, a change from a very unwhole- 
some to the purest system of diet may, at first, result in defective digestion ; 
but if the change be made discreetly the final result will assuredly be as sat- 
isfactory as that which follows a favorable modification of the cow's diet. 

f Whenever, in making the change under consideration, flatulency or 
pressure at the kidney follows the use of fruit, the quantity habitually taken 
should be lessened. There is a temptation always to continue the habitual 
distention of the stomach by the use of too much fruit at first. The system 
accustomed to a small amount of fruit, can not immediately adapt itself to 
an unusual quantity : all changes should be somewhat gradual, not neces- 
sarily by the continued use of any unwholesome substance, but with relation 
to the manner 0/ adopting the new regimen. 



214 



THE NATURAL CURE. 



normal dimensions of that organ ; (3) the uncooked 
grain being more nutritious than the bread formed 
from it (and especially than bread made from wheat 
starch — "white bread "), one may readily take an 
overdose if the wheat meal be used and dressed with 
milk ; but if the whole grain be employed he will be 
content with a modest ration ; the new exercise of 
chewing — putting the teeth to their normal use — 
soon wearies the muscles of the face, and he will be 
tempted to pass to the " second course " — the fruit — 
quite early in the engagement. The amount of grain 
food necessary to thoroughly nutrify the body, is 
comparatively small. In the form of bread, we are 
apt to eat altogether too much. But given pure 
food, and each individual may be safely left to de- 
cide the proportion of grain, fruit, and water to suit 
his own case ; the point is to maintain strength and 
avoid flatulence, and all other symptoms of indiges- 
tion. 

At the world-famed " Grape Cures " (for dyspepsia 
and its sequel, consumption), the diet during " the 
season," consists almost exclusively of ripe grapes : 
the patients stroll about the vineyards, and pick 
and eat. During the balance of the year the diet is 
composed chiefly of fruit, with a portion of cooked 
cereals. But we may obtain a more definite lesson 
from the experience of Mr. and Mrs. Hinde and their 
children. 

For nearly five years, this family, consisting of father, 
mother, and four children, have lived on this truly 
natural diet. They are very intellectual and refined 



THE NA TURAL DIET. 2 1 5 

m 

people. Their home is in Southern California. They 
have enjoyed typical health during these five years ; 
the mother, indeed, recovered her health by means of 
this diet, having failed, under medical treatment, to 
obtain relief from serious disorders which would be 
popularly and medically described as " incident to her 
sex/' but which, when they exist, are everywhere and 
always incident to violation of law. Every trace of 
her disorder disappeared during this lady's first year 
of living on uncooked food and outdoor air, and no 
vestige of her " weaknesses " has returned. The 
members of this family all live very active lives ; 
they take two meals, — morning and afternoon, — a 
small amount of the cereals, and a large proportion of 
fruit of various kinds. Our national pastime-luncheon, 
the ubiquitous peanut, forms a part of their regular 
dietary. It is a very nutritious vegetable, and, cer- 
tainly, if agreeable enough, as we know it is, to take 
a prominent part in the sensual enjoyment of a very 
large class, who feel that life is not worth living un- 
less much of their leisure time is spent in palate-tick- 
ling, it can not be sneered at as " one of the l messes' 
of those peculiar people," (formerly a common remark 
about hygienists, some of whom have, without doubt, 
advocated an unnatural asceticism.) I will make a few- 
brief extracts from letters written by the lady in ques- 
tion, at, and after the time I was living on uncooked 
food. As will be seen, the work was altogether new to 
me, and I went astray at first, regarding the proportions 
of grain and fruit : "Your cupful of grain/' she writes, 
" is more than double what my husband takes, and I 



2i6 THE NATURAL CURE. 

use still less ; but we eat very much more fresh fruit 
than you do." .... "I had intended to say in my 

last letter, that some people object to so much cold 
food, especially in the morning. I did not at all like 
it myself, at first, being always used to l a» good cup 
of tea ' the first thing ; however, use soon becomes 
second nature, and I prefer it now. In winter, when 
the apples or melons seem really cold, I bring them 
to a moderately cool temperature by warming slight- 
ly — the same with tomatoes : of these last, quite a lot 
have ripened up, although it is mid-winter, (Feb. 6, 
'8 1.) We find that too much nut-iood causes indiges- 
tion,* and it is better to combine a little vegetable- 
food always, if possible." ......" One little incident 

in our lives here, may interest you : our oldest daugh- 
ter, aged 13, has just been on a visit to some friends 
— the family of a doctor of the old school. His wife 
remarked one day that she liked the uncooked food 
very much, and would always use it, only she ate 
' what the others did, to keep them company/ Alice 
replied (and you may imagine how proud I felt when 
it was repeated to me by the doctor's daughter), * I 
am sure you do not understand the importance of it, 
then ! ' You would be surprised to see how firm the 
children are : they could not, by any kind of bribery, 
I believe, be induced to swerve one iota from the true 
principles upon which we live, and they have been 
severely tested, too." I regret to say that a year after 
the above was written, these people decided to test 



* The oily nuts are nutritious, and a small proportion, only, should be 
eaten, except in cold weather. 



THE NA TURAL DIET, 2 1 7 

once more the influence of cooking their food ; al- 
though it may furnish valuable evidence, and I predict 
their return to the natural diet with renewed faith 
Now (Sept. 1, 1882), after a few months' use of arti- 
ficially prepared food (their diet is still very simple ; 
they use no animal food, nor fancy dishes, no pastry, 
nor hot drinks), such sentences as the following are 
quite significant : " Well, both my husband and my- 
self think it possible there may be more ' ailments* 
from the use of cooked food, but there is more enjoy- 
ment too, and we shall have to take the bitter and the 
sweet together." . . . . " I know it [uncooked food] 
increases the spiritual perceptions greatly." * . . . . "I 
still believe it would be a sure preventive of disease ; 
but few, however, are prepared to adopt such an ex- 
treme mode of living." Once more: "The experi- 
ment has done us good, I am sure ; and I feel glad of 
the lessons I have learned through it. I don't think 
I shall ever be what I was before using it." [i. e., sickly]. 
Of this we can, of course, judge better later on. 
From an earlier letter, written in January (the 30th), 
1 88 1, and while they were enjoying the natural diet 
for the fourth year, I make a few extracts : " Its effects 
are truly wonderful, and far exceed my expectations- 
.... The sequel has proved that it not only ensures 
health to those already healthy, but eradicates former 
weaknesses when these exist ; for instance, rheuma- 
tism and ' sciatica/ from which I used to suffer — both 
have left me, I think never to return. The children 



* I desire to call the attention and fasten it for a moment upon this feature 
of the case. 

10 



2i8 THE NATURAL CURE, 

frequently suffered with toothache, and occasionally 
with earache ; now they are never troubled. I believe 
the hot food destroys the teeth, and renders the body 
generally more susceptible of taking colds. I used to 
take cold on the slightest exposure ; now I don't 
know what it is to have one. And sore throat was 
sure to follow a cold ; now I am quite exempt, and 
have been for two years."* 

Further on, and after describing the two-years-old 
baby's remarkable health and perfect appetite : " He 
never causes me the least trouble ; is always ready to 
eat a good breakfast, taking just what we do, and is 
truly a marvel of sweet infant life." After a brief 



* With reference to the prophylactic and curative effects of this diet I quote 
from " Vegetarian Life in Germany : A Paper, by a Lady Member of 
the German Vegetarian Society, read 15th Jan., 1881, at Manchester, 
EngZa?id, and reprinted by request" 

" Others, especially those whose occupations afford little or no exercise, as 
writers, artists, official persons, etc., prefer from time to time to live upon 
fruits alone, in order to clear their blood and thus prevent illness. Dr. 
Richard Nagel, of Burman, was one of the first to try such a cure, and with 
brilliant success. As he is a learned man, and his health rules are accepted 
by most German vegetarians, I take the liberty to give you an abridged 
translation of them : 

" I. Take often during the day a drink of pure cool fresh water; rain- 
water is best. Vegetarians who live plainly and upon fruits only, have very 
little thirst. 

u II. Wash the whole body with cool fresh water every morning before 
breakfast ; pooAlooded persons may use in winter a little warm, but never 
hot water. 

" III. All kinds of sweet fruits and roots are to be commended in an un- 
cooked form. These are so nourishing that we can live upon fruit alone. 
(Dr. Nagel, himself, so lived in 1S71, from February 25th to April 7th, that 
is during forty-one winter days, and you know that our German winter is 
much colder than yours. During this time he was extremely well, and 
worked hard as a physician and writer)." 



THE NATURAL DIET, 



219 



reference to the persecutions received from their 
neighbors at the first :....." But that is nothing ; 
we have lived it all down, and we are in better health 
to-day, all of us, than any family about, for many a 
mile. Why, they are all complaining of colds now, 
and yet we have the loveliest climate and the most 
delightful atmosphere under the sun. We never have 
any colds, or neuralgia, or rheumatism. Whatever 
may be said in derision of our diet, and, of course, 
there are more or less remarks, we have the best of it 
anyway ; and, oh, the load of expense, labor and care 
and anxiety that is removed ! The children are har- 
monious and happy, devoting their spare time to use- 
ful pursuits — we all have so much more spare time 
now," etc., etc. 

From another letter : 

" . . . . But I must hasten to answer your queries. 
1st. As to how we prepare our food in winter. We 
have apples, raisins, oranges, and figs, which need no 
preparation. Wheat and rye we grind first in a large 
mill and finish off in a spice mill, and usually eat it 
dry with juicy fruits. I can eat rye, apples, nuts, 
and raisins, and make a good meal. We confine our- 
selves to what we raise here, chiefly because we think 
it best. We raise our own peanuts, and if you will 
take them unroasted, and grind with your grain, you 
will get a very palatable, strengthening food, alone or 
with raisins; they contain a very sweet oil which, as 
we learn, is beginning to be appreciated in England. 
I prefer the peanuts in this form because they need 
to be very finely masticated. I can work longer after 



220 THE NATURAL CURE. 

such a breakfast and not feel hungry than anything 
else I have tried. We have delicious musk-melons 
now, also water-melons, but the latter are deteriorat- 
ing, being out of season. Our ripe tomatoes are 
nearly over; after these are gone we shall use our 
dried peaches, pears, and apples, merely soaked in 
cold water until soft — not sloppy. We use rain-water 
in winter. I make a salad for dinner, often, as follows : 
lettuce washed and cut small, a few ripe tomatoes 
peeled and cut up, and one or two green peppers cut 
fine ; pouring over a dressing of raisin syrup, made by 
soaking black raisins for twenty-four hours, and strain- 
ing. This salad I vary by substituting celery for let- 
tuce. I assure you it is a most healthful dish, and so 
sweet and nice with rye. We use oatmeal soaked for 
twelve hours in just enough water to soften it, and 
then well beaten ; with either raisins [grapes] or dried 
fruits it is very delicious. I did not at first like rye, 
but after a little we all came to regard it the sweetest 
grain we have. The children are very fond of cauli- 
flower — just the flour part — and green pease, fresh- 
picked are a great dish with us. Some like radishes 
and garden cress and a few things of that nature. I 
prefer fruits with my grain, and we can have them 
fresh, of some sort, all the year round. Strawberries 
come in about March — indeed, we have a few even 
now [February]. I'm going to make a ' natural fruit- 
cake/ this week, for our little girl's birthday. I shall 
send a piece by post to Mrs. Page, with full directions 
for making it. We had one at New Year's, and even 
those who live on cooked food pronounced it ' as good 



THE NATURAL DIET. 221 

as they ever tasted/ But very little of our time, how- 
ever, is taken up, usually, with the preparation of oui 
food ; only, on special occasions, v/e arnuse ourselves 
a little in such ways, for the children's sake. At all 
times, however, we have a good variety of food ; in 
fact, too much, I sometimes think. We eat more in 
quantity than others, but a large proportion is fruit, 
which furnishes all our liquid food except fresh 
water. We all enjoy our food thoroughly ; the chil- 
dren never ask for anything between meals [two 
meals only], only baby comes as regularly as possible 
for an apple at half-past eleven — of course he gets it." 
The following letter from a veteran hygienist refers 
to the family whose history I have been relating. 

My dear Dr. Page : 

Your letter of February 13th, enclosing letters from Mr. 
and Mrs. Hinde for us to read and to make extracts from for 
The Laws, came duly to hand. I have read them with great 
interest, for they do but add to my conviction that, as yet, the 
divinely ordained mode of living for man on earth has re- 
ceived, in the minds of so-called hygienists, small conception, 
and in the life of the best of us comparatively poor illustra- 
tion, and, therefore, just such experience as these dear people 
are having in their search for better methods of realizing, de- 
veloping, and making serviceable spiritual power are of great 
interest to me. They always have been. 

It has been a matter of great regret with me, that being an 
incurably diseased man, and being shut up to the necessity of 
working up, to the best degree possible for me, a revolution in 
the thought and conduct of people at large, in matters pertain- 
ing to their life on earth, I have not been able physically nor 
circumstantially to carry out my life as I have wanted to do, 
I have done some things, but always under circumstances that 



222 THE NATURAL CURE. 

endangered my available power to live and work, while making 
such transitions as I was determined to make. 

I have settled several principles which enter as constituent 
elements into the philosophy of life of the human organism. 
Among them I may mention two : One is, the changes from 
bad to good, or from worse to better, can never be made re- 
constructively, except under the policy which governs con- 
struction. Now, as all growth of any living organism, or any 
part of it, is, relatively speaking, slow, so all reparation of any 
injured part in such organism relatively has to be slow. Re- 
construction, therefore, is slow if according to law. This of 
itself speaks condemningly of the system of drug medication, 
because everywhere do drug doctors seek to produce changes 
from bad to good, or from worse to better, rapidly. This is 
unphilosophical, and, therefore, can be, on the whole, only open 
to criticism as being bad practice. 

Another is, that where morbid conditions have existed until 
they have become chronic, and the organism has become ad- 
justed thereto, changes from the abnormal to the normal can 
not be made without aggravation of those conditions. I have 
never known a person to go from chronic derangements of 
any organ in his body to normal conditions of it, without 
passing through an acute stage, * and this acute stage is criti- 
cal in its nature, subjecting the organ to added liability for the 
time, may be subjecting the whole organism to it. Thousands 
of persons die every day under medical treatment in this coun- 
try from badly-managed critical changes through which they 
have to pass. 

Thifdly. I am satisfied that of all the diseases with which 
doctors have to deal, and of which persons die, ninety-five per 
cent, of them have their origin in bad dietetic indulgence, 
and in deviations from right way of living, caused directly by, 
and to be attributed to, bad habits of eating and drinking. If 



* This was illustrated in the case of Mrs. Kinde, who says of her first ex- 
perience : "I fully expected suffering as a consequence, and so there was foi 
a time ; but it proved a blessing in disguise." — Author. 



THE NATURAL DIET 



223 



you take a hundred diseases, as they are called, and study the 
predisposing and the provoking causes to their production, 
you will find that at least ninety-five per cent, have their ori- 
gin in derangements of the stomach and the organs that are 
in direct sympathy with it. 

I take it upon me to say on my platform very frequently, 
and I repeat the same as I would repeat it from any public 
platform if I were talking to a public audience : Give me the 
right and the power, by and with the consent of any given 
population, whether one thousand or one million, to control 
their dietetic conditions, and I will take care of their diseases, 
and, in less than the life of a generation, will banish from their 
midst seven-eighths of all the diseases now common to phy- 
sicians in their practice ; will stop the diseases, and deaths 
that grow out of a prevalence of these diseases and their 
methods of treatment ; will put an end to the vices and the 
crimes everywhere extant, and which it is so difficult for so- 
ciety and government to manage, and thoroughly revolutionize 
the physical an4 moral status of such people. 

We have to go to the bottom of things in order to get to 
the top of things, for the home of the eternal righteousness 
is so high that no ladder can reach it, unless its lower end 
rests on bed-rock. Who builds his house on quicksand runs 
the risk of his life. Who climbs to the skies by any false 
means of ascent that he may seek to establish, will find his 
fate foreshadowed in the simple fact that he does not com- 
mence his ascent from a secure foundation. 

Yours very truly, 

James C. Jackson. 

Mr. Isaac B. Rumford, and son, hard-working farm- 
ers, of Bakersfield, Cal., have lived strictly on the 
"natural diet " for upwards of two years. Mr. Rum- 
ford has been a chronically-diseased man for many 
years; now, however, he is so far improved as to be 
able to do, as he says, "a good day's work." " It is 



224 THE NATURAL CURE. 

doing for me," he writes,. " what I have been seeking 
and sorrowing after, vainly until now, for twenty years 
— giving me health. My son also finds it a perfect 
diet, and would not readily exchange it for any other; 
indeed, we both enjoy our food more than formerly on 
the old system. By another year," he adds, " I shall 
be able to give you still more information on this sub- 
ject, as others are beginning to be impressed with the 
advantages of this regimen." (See Appendix.) 

A. R. B., of New York city, has lived chiefly on un- 
cooked grain and fruit for upwards of a year ; and his 
young wife, also, has tried it to a considerable extent. 
Two years ago Mrs. B. was threatened with consump- 
tion, and was told by her physician that unless she 
changed her diet (she was then beginning the vegetari- 
an regimen) she would certainly not live a year. She 
" needed meat and milk in abundance, he said. But 
she only lived the more abstemiously, and on coarse 
bread, with fruit, chiefly, and, during the past year, has 
eaten considerable uncooked " bread," and all symp- 
toms of her disease have disappeared. Mr. B. had 
nasal catarrh ; but this has disappeared, and he now 
finds himself thoroughly nourished and better able 
than ever before to perform his duties. His diet con- 
sists of two meals, — 7 A.M. and 6 P.M.,— and with but 
little variation, the two combined make about a half 
cupful each, wheat and cat groats, with five or six 
nice apples. His appetite has become sufficiently 
normal to enable him to enjoy this diet fully. This 
is in winter. In summer less grain and more fruit, 

As bearing upon the supposed difficulties in the way 
of introducing the natural diet, should any choose to 



THE NA TURAL DIET. 225 

adopt it, I can not forbear relating a little incident 
of recent occurrence : For some weeks past, I have 
been living exclusively, and with great satisfaction, 
upon this diet. In a conversation upon the subject, a 
friend^xpressed, along with some surprise at my state- 
ments as to the gustatory pleasures of this diet and 
its completeness for nutrifying the body, a curiosity 
to know just how it would seem to sit down to a 
meal without a single dish of cooked food, nor any 
odor of smoking viands about. " Very good," I said, 
"dine with us to-morrow, and bring the children." 
This he promised, and on the following day, Sunday, 
he came up with his two children, a boy of seven 
and a girl of three years. Nothing was said to them 
by their father before, nor by any one after their ar- 
rival, as to the kind of food to be set before them ; 
they were simply invited out to dinner, and antici- 
pated a good time. The injudicious comments, or 
" chaffing," of parents and friends, will very easily 
" set " children against what would naturally be their 
own inclinations if given a fair chance, without having 
their minds prejudiced, I mean, by the notions, or the 
dyspeptic idiosyncracies of their elders. At 4 P.M. the 
table was set, but with no extras on account of company, 
although here " .extras" would imply no additional 
trouble nor, perhaps, expense. There were dates, — 
" Persian," or the kind which are in regular tiers and 
handled comfortably, — walnuts, filberts, raisins, a 
variety of apples, and, for bread, a fruit-dish contain- 
ing "oat groats." The latter was served as the first 
course, the children eating of this natural bread with 
10* 



226 THE NATURAL CURE. 

every appearance of satisfaction, as did all the com- 
pany, a few teaspoonfuls each. All united in calling 
it sweet and good. Then came walnuts and raisins ; 
some added filberts, others took only the latter, after 
which, dates, and then, for dessert, apples ; of these, 
one or two each were eaten. In the midst of the 
nuts and raisins, I may add, and what surprised my 
visitor more than all else, both children asked, volun- 
tarily, for " a few more oats," which they received 
and ate with a gusto ! As we arose from the table, 
my friend (a banker, by the way, and a " good 
liver,") said, " There, I can truly say that I have 
never eaten a more satisfactory dinner ; taken all in 
all, this has been a model meal." " How about the 
children ? " I asked, of him, but they answered ; " I 
have had a splendid dinner," said the boy. " I've 
had a splendid dinner," chorused the little three-year- 
old. The father added (what was in my own mind), 
that he enjoyed the meal all the more because of the 
non-necessity for restricting the children in any man- 
ner : there was no occasion for caution — no " mustn't 
eat so fast," no " I'm afraid you are not chewing 
your food thoroughly," " No, dear, no more of the 
preserves, — they will hurt you," nor any nuisance of 
the sort ; nor any risk in consequence ; and I remark- 
ed, with my friend's entire acquiescence, that, often 
as I had observed them, both in their home and at 
my own table, never had I seen them so apparently 
satisfied in every respect, from the beginning to the 
end of a meal ; that, in fact, they had never enjoyed 
a meal in so utterly unrestricted a manner ; and at 



THE NATURAL DIET. 



227 



the same time, they arose from the table with no in- 
dication of surfeit — no heaviness, nor succeeding 
sleepiness or peevishness, as we often witness with 
children after an ordinary dinner. 

Here was a delicious and ample midwinter dinner 
for six at a total cost of less than the meat alone for 
a mixed meal, — with no brewing, baking or fuming- 
up the home, or heating up and using up its mistress 
in the preparation, and clearing away of the meal, not 
to mention the other injurious effects of an ordinary 
" company dinner/' A few weeks later, in response 
to an invitation from my little guests, I had the 
pleasure of a return-dinner of the same sort, and a 
Christmas (1882) dinner at that, at which a larger 
company assembled, and all pronounced it complete ; 
and the servants did not complain of being over- 
worked — nor underfed. One of these was overheard 
to say, "Dessert 's good enough for me ! " 

I would ask all prudent parents, Are you not often 
disturbed about the little ones' diet— about the pie, 
cake, pudding, etc., and are they not frequently made 
ill by/ 4 over-indulgence/' as it is called, in these 
things ? How can you expect a little, growing child, 
with an appetite like that of a shark (if hot, melting 
viands, or artificial sweets are before them), with no 
sort of physiological knowledge, in fact a normal and 
proper disgust for anything of the sort, no idea of pru- 
dence, but only a dread of your frequent and necessary 
cautions, — how can you expect a child, with mouth 
full of hot bread, — or any bread, — with butter, milk, 
or sauce, or mashed potatoes, garnished with gravy. 



228 THE NATURAL CURE. 

turkey, stuffing, and cranberry, all melting in his 
mouth, to " chew " what requires no chewing and can 
not be made wholesome by chewing, and " hold " 
what will rush away into the stomach as though im- 
pelled by an all-controlling force? It can not be 
done, you can not do it yourselves, and as for the 
young ones, it is the refinement of cruelty to attempt 
it ; — it means dissatisfaction, discomfort, and, often, 
the destruction of what should be a happy season, to 
be perpetually badgering them about it; it is un- 
natural and wrong. Give your children the sort of 
food you think best for them, and let them enjoy it. 
If this can not be done with safety, the fault is with 
the food, not with them. 

The best way to effect a change in an obnoxious 
law, as has been well said, is to enforce the law. The 
same principle holds in diet : If you find that you are 
furnishing a sort of food which, eaten unrestrictedly 
and in their own way, makes your children sick or 
endangers their health, give them something better. 
At the meal of which I have been speaking, there 
was no restraint, no cautions, nor occasion for any : 
the food was of that strictly natural sort which, while 
requiring to be well masticated, itself enforced the 
law. The sharp teeth of the children cut the oats per- 
fectly ; there was no stimulation, nor temptation to 
hurry the food into the stomach without masticating 
it, no feverish appetency, as with hot, highly-seasoned 
viands — all wanted to chew the food as much as it 
" wanted to be " chewed, and, consequently, no ap- 
preciable amount of it entered the stomach unpre- 



THE NATURAL DIET 229 

pared for stomach-digestion. For the first time in 
the lives of these children, since they were weaned, 
could this be said of them. It can not be said of a 
single child in America, or elsewhere, who sits at a 
table supplied with ordinary food. What results 
from this unnatural manner of alimentation ? Indi- 
gestion, inevitably, indicated by various symptoms, 
as, for example, flatulency which is popularly regarded 
as entirely natural, the odorous emanations from the 
younger fry being considered evidence of indiscretion 
instead of what it really is — disease. And what from 
this ? Blood-poisoning, as surely ; with aches, pains, 
feverish spells, with influenza (popularly called " a 
cold "), which, as can not be too much emphasized, 
is, strictly speaking, instead of a disease, the effort of 
Nature to " cure " a disease which otherwise would 
become so deep-seated as to demand a " run of fever 
to eliminate it, and all manner of physical ailments. 

I am often asked, What constitutes the scrofulous 
diathesis, so called, or the scrofulous " taint " sup- 
posed to be the inheritance of so many of the children 
of our times? My reply is this : Scrofulous persons 
are those, mainly, perhaps it should be said wholly, 
who from current bad habits (as to diet, air, and all the 
requirements, or any part of them, which are necessary 
for the maintenance of health), manufacture bad, in- 
stead of pure blood. Such persons become more and 
more depraved, and incapacitated for bequeathing to 
their offspring great vital power. In consequence the 
children of such parents are endowed with a feeble 
organism ; that is, an organism incapable, at least 



230 THE NATURAL CURE. 

until virtually, or nearly as possible made over new, 
of putting forth in any direction a great degree of 
force, whether of the voluntary muscular system, the 
brain, the digestive or excretory systems, or what 
not. Children of this stamp may, they often do, ex- 
hibit precocity in one or another direction — being 
unbalanced, so to say — and may evince much alert- 
ness, both in muscle and brain, but they soon tire : it 
will always be found that they are incapable of pro- 
longed effort in any direction, without exhaustion. 
They may develop a fondness for study and for 
play, but in neither direction have they any staying 
power : they are called over-ambitious, often ; they 
a?e undernourished always. And this, not because 
they do not swallow a large quantity of food (though 
some children are kept so surfeited as to have # little 
relish for food, and may, consequently, eat but little, 
being all the time a few days ahead of their stom- 
achs, so to say), but generally because, of all the 
food swallowed, not enough is digested and assimi- 
lated to sustain them, and keep them in a vigorous 
state. They are, like all animals, when not suffering 
from nausea or lack of appetite through somebody's 
fault, very ambitious in the way of eating ; having — 
not inherited — but rather, I should say, acquired 
during the involuntary cramming of infancy — that 
special school for gluttony, which graduates near 
thirty per cent, of its pupils into premature graves 
before their first year is ended — and the injudicious 
feeding of the survivors in childhood, a full, perhaps 
rounded measure of appetency, especially for the very 



THE MA TURAL DIET. 23 1 

things which scrofulous children, of all born children, 
should not have. They may be greedy for study and 
for food (though often enough, excess of the latter 
makes them listless and unfit for either study or 
play), but have for neither, sufficient capacity for di- 
gestion and assimilation, to make them either learned 
or strong. It follows, if they are fed like their robust 
fellows who can bear up under the burden, that by 
reason of quality, frequency, and amount of food 
eaten, no portion, not even such wholesome articles 
as fruit, vegetables, etc., as they may have in abun- 
dance, — no portion of their food is properly digested 
and assimilated. It is unnatural in variety, is pre- 
pared and eaten unnaturally, and, as has been said, 
there ensues, as surely as any effect is simultaneous 
with its cause, indigestion, blood-poisoning, and the 
current, daily manufacture of " scrofulous humors," 
if people choose to call them by that name; and but 
for its misleading tendency, as at present interpreted, 
this name would answer as well as any. Of pure 
food, these children can digest and assimilate a given 
amount — an amount, indeed, suited to their peculiar 
needs ; the balance, including all unwholesome sub- 
stances,* is so much for influenza, catarrh, " scrofula," 



* I include cream among the forbidden animal fats, especially for scrofu- 
lous subjects, for the reason that in practice I have never observed other than 
ultimately injurious effects from its use. I can account for this only upon 
the ground that if milk is a proper food for man, whole milk — like whole 
wheat, whole apples, whole grapes, whole beets, instead of white Hour, cider, 
wine and sugar — only can be thus classed. The fact that many, even robust 
persons, can not use milk at all, and a still larger proportion cream, whereas 
skimmed milk is well borne by them and in some instances seems to produce 
lasting good effects, may be accounted for, perhaps, in the following man- 



232 THE NATURAL CURE. 

measles, "nervousness/' fractiousness, ("measly dis- 
position " was not originally a slang phrase by any 
means) scarlet fever, skin, scalp, and all other so-called 
diseases. The remedy, then, for the disorders of 
children of scrofulous, or any other diathesis, is plain : 
stop feeding them unnaturally, and feed them natu- 
rally. And the earlier in their lives this is done, and 
the more faithfully it is attended to, the more likely 
they will be to " outgrow their inheritance/' I do 
not hesitate to say that, of those weakly-born or 
"tainted" children who die in infancy or childhood, 
or live sickly lives, in a very large proportion of cases 
they could, by right treatment, chiefly as to fresh air 
and diet, be built up above the plain of disease, Le n 
placed upon the highest level possible to them, and 
enabled to live fairly long lives, a comfort to them- 
selves and a benefit to the world. And this, too, in a 
majority of instances, on a rigidly abstemious vege- 
table diet, reserving the " natural diet " for the most 
critical cases, or the most conscientious persons.* 

Finally, to add so large a line of proper foods to our 
dietary by a correct understanding of their real office 
and value — taking them out of the category of mere 
pastime-lunches — should, from any point of view, be 

ner : As our cows are bred and fed, their milk is abnormally loaded with 
fatty matters, and when skimmed, after sitting- twelve or more hours, still 
contains, as compared with 7iatural cows' milk, a full proportion of cream. 
Therefore, by removing the excess of cream, which is of an excretory nature, 
we are doing all in our power to " restore the balance," or to make the milk 
natural. Let those who choose make use of this delicious scum ; but its ad- 
ministration to sick people, though often, like drugs, producing stimulating, 
and apparently beneficial effects, will, in the end, like every form of stimula- 
tion, hinder, if not prevent recovery. (See Stimulation. ) 
* See note 5 in Appendix, p. 2S1. 



THE NATURAL DIET 



233 



accounted a great gain. We are made by that much 
more independent, in being elevated above the other- 
wise some-time-necessity of eating unmitigatedly jjad, 
or badly-prepared food, or of going without any ; for 
almost any corner grocery will furnish a better bill-of 
fare than one often finds at poor hotels or restau- 
rants ; besides, this class of foods may be taken along 
better than any other : they are the most comfortable 
to transport and to handle en route, and will " keep." 
Moreover, they demand less time for " preliminary di- 
gestion " after eating; if, indeed, one may not, after 
a judicious meal of them, resume ordinary mental or 
muscular labor with impunity. The effect of a light 
lunch of fruits, is really, when one is once accustomed 
to their use, exhilarating to both the brain and the 
muscular system — stimulating, not as with a spur, 
but, rather, a " push behind"; or, more truly, by in- 
crease of actual strength through pabulum supplied 
to the blood, of a character, as I am convinced, unlike 
that of any form of cooked food. 

Note. — In concluding this theme, while expressing 
the belief that this will be the diet of the future — 
that advancing civilization will demand it, on the 
score of economy, as relates to time, care, and health, 
no less than the comparatively trifling consideration 
of money cost (and yet what an item even this would 
be to the toiling millions !), and above all in view of 
the emancipation of woman from the serfdom of the 
kitchen, where she now exhausts herself to the injury 
of the family, her incessant kitchen labors tending 
especially to unfit her for the production of robust 



234 



THE NATURAL CURE. 



children — yet I would not chill the health-seeker 
of to-day, by insisting upon the vital importance of 
every one's breaking away abruptly from all present 
customs as regards the selection and preparation of 
food. To a considerable degree the usage of genera- 
tions has, beyond question, adapted our systems to 
the use of cooked foods — has even rendered them 
somewhat unadapted to the instant use of uncooked 
foods — so that a radical and complete change, abrupt- 
ly made, would result in temporary digestive distur- 
bance, which (however advantageous the results of the 
change, finally, if persisted in with faith and courage) 
would render it impracticable for some persons, more 
especially since this temporary physical inconvenience 
would be added to the social inconvenience arising 
from placing oneself so markedly at variance with all 
about him. No one can form a just opinion of this 
last item until he attempts a radical change in his 
dietetic habits : it presents the greatest check imagi- 
nable to rapid progress in this direction. 

A reform, however, which is at the same time feasi- 
ble and, in most instances, sufficient, speaking gener- 
ally, — and which, as elsewhere remarked, already has 
its hundreds of thousands of adherents in this coun- 
try alone, — would be the adoption of the " fruit and 
bread," or the ordinary vegetarian diet even — ban- 
ishing all doubtful dishes, condiments, spices, hot 
drinks — stimulants all — making a lunch (or two, 
even) in the course of the day, of fruit, with a biscuit 
or two at one of them, perhaps ; and at eve, when 
the tired ones are rested, a regular " full meal/ 



THE NATURAL DIET 



235 



consisting of various bread dishes — wheat, corn, rye 
and oatmeal, with various admixtures of the same, 
which may well furnish a different flavor (several, in- 
deed) for every day in the month — fruit, milk (for 
those with whom it "agrees"), vegetables and nuts. 
Following this direction, and aiming constantly, but 
comfortably, to maintain the balance between diet and 
labor — between the food eaten and the needs of the or- 
ganism for nutriment — one may not only enjoy, as he 
ought, the pleasures of the table, but, in very many 
cases, absolutely and largely increase these pleasures, 
in the aggregate, considering, more especially, his ex- 
emption from sickness with its occasional involuntary 
fasts, and, with many, the quite frequent periods of 
slight, or non-satisfaction, through nausea and lack of 
appetite arising from an injudicious dietary. This 
regimen lessens by one-half the housewife's burdens, 
as well as the cost of living, while it adds immeasura- 
bly to her health and that of her household. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

MALARIA— SEWER GAS. 

THESE are very vicious companions, and cause a 
deal of mischief. The scientists have much to say 
of the prevalence, and of the deleterious effects of 
sewer gas, from faulty plumbing, etc. ; but they do 
not insist, upon, scarcely indeed mention, the plain 
fact, that if this insidious destroyer can, as is now 
known, get into a dwelling through a foot of stone or 
brick wall, it can and will get out through an open 
window ; and that, in any event, if there be abundant 
ventilation there will be such dilution of these gases 
as to render them comparatively innoxious. It is 
not so much the letting in of bad air, but rather the 
confining of it — the breathing of it, " pure and un- 
adulterated " — that causes disease. There is more 
malaria in a close bedroom in the most favored 
mountain-region, and in the alimentary canal of a 
constipated or drug-swallowing dyspeptic, than about 
the swamps and bayous of Louisiana or the dreaded 
Roman Campagna, where wrapped in a single blanket, 
the author has slept night after night — to prove his 
faith in the theory, as well the theory itself. The 
" Roman fever," so alarming to visitors of the holy 
(236) 



MALARIA—SEWER GAS. 



237 



city, is the joint product of stuffy hotel bedrooms 
and a diet better suited to the climate of Iceland 
than Italy. 

"I have lately spent a summer in a country place 
whose delicious air is a just source of pride to its in- 
habitants/' says an observing writer, in Our Continent. 
" They told me how doctors sent their patients there 
from a distance, and how even consumptives had had 
their fell disease arrested by the tonic effects of the 
pure air and invigorating breezes, and then I found 
the very people who thus glorified in them shutting 
out every breath of air and every ray of sunshine from 
their houses because of flies ! In returning the calls 
of neighbors, I was struck the moment I entered their 
houses with that close, unwholesome, i stuffy ' smell 
which we generally associate with the homes of the 
ignorant and unneat classes alone, but which is often 
to be noticed in those of a class far above them. As 
I looked at the outside of the different houses in the 
place, it was difficult to realize that they were really 
inhabited. Every blind was carefully closed, and not 
one sign of life visible ; and yet, unfortunately, life 
was going on behind those closed windows — life which 
needed every advantage to make it healthy and enjoy- 
able. Does it never occur to you, you housekeepers 
whose minds recoil from soiled house-linen, fly-specks 
on paint, and every species of uncleanliness — docs it 
never occur to you, you so-called neat women, that 
there is one thing absolutely dirty in your cleanly- 
swept and carefully-dusted houses, and that is their 



238 THE NA TURAL C URE. 

very air? You who would blush with shame at the 
idea of anything unclean worn on your person, or tak- 
en into your mouth, do you not know you are taking 
in uncleanliness with every breath you draw ; and that 
unclean air is making your blood, and through its 
means, your entire bodies impure? .... Many a 
woman is regretting this summer that she is unable 
to have a change of air for herself and children by 
going to the seaside, the country, or the mountains. 
Why not try the effect of change of air at home? If 
air makes such a difference to your health as you ad- 
mit, why not let it do its best for you wherever you 
are?" 

It would be hard to find, in any community, a 
person so ignorant as not to know that the lungs 
require good air. " Oh, yes, of course, I know we 
must have pure air." Yes, indeed. Nevertheless, 
ninety-five families in every hundred, in city and coun- 
try, though always ready to say this, suffer every day 
of their lives for want of it. This arises from a lack 
of definite knowledge (1) as to the true office of air — 
of the fact that it supplies the major portion of the 
body's nourishment, since an ordinary person could 
live six weeks or more without eating, and as many 
days without liquids of any sort ; while as many 
minutes without oxygen is certain death ; and (2) as 
to what constitutes " pure air in the home." Says 
Prof. Huxley: " But the deprivation of oxygen, and 
the accumulation of carbonic acid, cause injury long 
before the asphyxiating point is reached. Uneasiness 
and headache arise when less than one per cent, of 



MALARIA—SEWER GAS. 



239 



the oxygen of the air is replaced by other matters ; 
Awhile the persistent breathing of such air tends to 
lower all kinds of vital energy, and predisposes to 
disease. Hence the necessity of sufficient air, and of 
ventilation for every human being. To be supplied 
with respiratory air in a fair state of purity, every 
man ought to have at least eight hundred cubic feet 
of space to himself, and that space ought to be freely 
accessible, by direct or indirect channels, to the at- 
mosphere." 

A room ten feet square, and eight feet high, if 
"freely accessible" to the outer air during the entire 
24 hours, will, according to the high authority quoted, 
supply the necessary respiratory rations, so to say, for 
one adult person. In so far, then, as this space per 
capita is diminished, its accessibility to the outer air 
must be increased ; that is, the ventilation (which 
should in all cases be constant) must be freer, in pro- 
portion as the size of the room is diminished or the 
number of its occupants increased. No room built 
with hands will ever be large enough to supply the 
" breath of life," in default of free communication 
with the outer air. 

WINTER VENTILATION. 

The true theory of ventilation is to obtain a per- 
petual and sufficient change of air without sensible 
draught. The following simple plan, as I have proved 
by years of experience, perfectly fulfills these require- 
ments, and leaves nothing to be desired. The Srien- 
tific A merican endorses the plan, and places it above 



240 



THE NA TURAL CURE. 



many, in fact most of the elaborate and expensive 
devices. The eminent Dr. B. W. Richardson, of L<jp- 
don, also, is on record in favor of the plan, and it is 
already in use in thousands of homes in this country. 
A three-inch strip placed beneath the lower sash of 
each window has the effect to " mismatch " the sashes, 
causing them to overlap each other in the middle. 
The stream of air thus admitted is thrown directly 
upward, and slowly mixes with the heated air in the 
upper part of the room. As several windows in each 
room are thus provided, the vitiated air is constantly 
passing out at one or another of the ventilators. The 
strip being perfectly fitted or listed, no air can enter 
at the sill, and all can be so nicely finished as in no 
manner to mar the appearance of the most elegant 
drawing-room. A dwelling thus ventilated will never 
smell " close " to the most sensitive nose upon re- 
entering, even after a prolonged stay in the open air 
— a test that would condemn, as unfit for occupancy, 
ninety in the hundred sitting and sleeping rooms, as 
well as churches, halls, etc., the w T orld over. The 
purity of the air is by no means measured by the 
temperature. Cold air is often very impure by reason 
of stagnation (as stagnant water), or the exhaiations 
from the lungs, etc., while, on the other hand, the 
temperature may be maintained at yo° F., or upwards, 
without fatally lowering its quality, if a sufficient and 
perpetual change is going on between the outdoor 
and indoor air. 

Whether in Maine or California, Florida or Kansas ; 
whether in a " malarial district " or in a region cele- 



MALARIA— SEWER GAS. 24 1 

brated for its salubrity, — whatever the locality, — the 
only standard, the purest air attainable for the inhabi- 
tants of any town or hamlet, is the outdoor air. Apro- 
pos of this I make a brief extract from the letter of a 
patient, a delicate lady, under treatment for chronic 
dyspepsia, and other troubles, who, under date of Sep- 
tember 5th, says: " I have tried to follow your direc- 
tions, and the result is very satisfactory. I live out of 
doors as much as possible through the day, and for 
weeks have even slept out on the porch at night. I 
have enjoyed this very much, — never slept so soundly 
nor felt so fresh on waking. Of course my friends 
predicted malaria from sleeping out of doors so near 
the fogs from the river, but I haven't had even a snif- 
fle ! I exercise a great deal and have grown very much 
stronger. It seemed pretty hard at first to live on 
one meal a day and exercise too, but I persevered and 
feel better for it. Every one here is astonished at 
my progress and increase of strength. At first I think 
they rather resented my not coming to the table, and 
they openly declared the foolishness of living without 
meat ; but they have ' sick spells ' which now I never 
do, and they can not endure heat or cold as I can. 
I think I can dimly see your position, and begin to 
realize the simplicity of certain problems generally 
regarded so complicated. " — (Mrs. S., Washington, D. 
C, writing from Wadley's Falls, N. H.) 

I feel that my readers will absolve me from the 

charge of egotism in thus introducing the testimony 

of this poor lady, the victim of malpractice in the first 

instance, who, after passing through course after 

1 1 



242 THE NA TURAL CURE. 

course of drug medication at the hands of eminent, 
and so-called skillful physicians, at last begins, not 
dimly, as she herself says, but clearly, as I believe, to 
see the simplicity of the health question ; and espe- 
cially ought I to be pardoned when I here distinctly 
remark that I claim to be only the contemporary of 
thousands upon thousands, physicians and laymen, 
who have become converts to Hygienic Medicine ; 
being convinced that the proposition is as true as it 
is simple, that, in general, substances which are inju- 
rious for healthy persons to swallow, are even more 
deleterious to the sick. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Coffee, Medicinally and Dietetically Consid- 
ered. — The True Theory of Stimulation.* 

" The chief constituent of the coffee berry, the 
alkaloid caffeine — in chemical analysis recognized as 
identical with that of the tea plant, theine — when sep- 
arated from the other constituents, .... so as to be 
seen in its perfect purity, appears in snow-white, silky, 
filiform crystals, flexible and fragile, without odor, but 

having a mildly bitter taste But it remains an 

important consideration that this crystallized constit- 
uent .... is built on the chemical type of the alka- 
loid, a class of bodies which nature forms in plants, 
but not in food-plants — bodies that include narcotics, 
stimulants, hypnotics, deliriants, poisons, tonics ; 
some of them affecting the whole nervous system, 
one to excite and another to depress ; and others in- 
fluencing only parts of the nervous system, for special 
functions of the body. ,, f 

" Medically speaking, this theine has a totally dis- 
tinctive action from the infusions of which it forms a 

* This paper first appeared in the Boston Journal of Chemistry and Fe/u- 
lar Science Revieiv, May and June, 1SS2. 

f Professor Albert B. Prescott, in Popular Science Monthly, Jan., 1SS2, 
11 Chemistry of Tea and CoiTee." 

(243) 



244 



THE NATURAL CURE. 



part. In the form of an infusion of tea or coffee, we 
have to deal with a large proportion of astringent 
matter, in the form of tannic acid, and with the pres- 
ence of the essential oil, which is an excitant to the 
nervous system, and is the substance to which must be 
ascribed disorders of the nervous system which result 
from tea and coffee drinking, such as palpitation of 
the heart and sleeplessness. The theine, upon the 
other hand, of which there is about one-tenth of a 
grain in an ordinary cup of tea, is the restorative 
agent to the nervous system, and is opposed, in its 
therapeutic properties, to the action of the essential 
oil. The infusion, therefore, of tea or coffee may in- 
duce palpitation in a heart liable to excessive or inco- 
ordinate action ; but theine, on the contrary, may be 
looked to, therapeutically, to quiet palpitation. The 
infusion, by being an excitant, may prevent sleep. 
Theine, by being a restorative and an indirect sus- 
tainer and regulator of the circulation, may induce 
sleep. Individual medical investigators have, more 
than this, attempted, from time to time, to show that 
the action of theine is allied to that of quinine." * 

It can not be questioned that the administration 
of coffee, in the form of an infusion or otherwise, is 
entirely in accord with the theory and practice of 
medicine at the present day. It is, however, a fact 
well known to practitioners, and indeed generally to 
" laymen," that the constant and long-continued use 
of any medicine transforms its "remedial " influence 



* " Tea and Coffee as Nervines," by Dr. Lewis Shapter, in British Medi- 
cal Journal* 



COFFEE. 245 

into one promotive of disease that may perhaps de- 
mand the curative aid of some other drug. 

A strong infusion of cafe noir (administered, it is 
to be presumed, to one not an habitual user) has been 
recently claimed by a celebrated French physician as 
an effectual antidote for the blood-poison that exists 
in typhus, typhoid, and yellow fevers. While this 
may be true, I am sure that there are, on the other 
hand, good grounds for the belief that the habitual 
use of coffee as an article of diet aids materially 
in the accumulation of the poison, and in the produc- 
tion of that abnormal condition or quality of the tis- 
sues of the body which the vital forces seek to rec- 
tify by means of the expulsive efforts which consti- 
tute the symptoms of typhoid and other fevers. In- 
deed, Dr. Segur, who evidently regards coffee as the 
nearest approach to the Elixir of Life, claims, as one 
of the benefits resulting from its use, that " it lessens 
the waste of tissue, and therefore renders less food 
necessary. ,, Now, to interfere with or hinder any of 
the normal processes of the organism, especially those 
most vital to the economy, as, for example, that of 
the constant breaking down and excretion of the tis- 
sues, is not only to invite, but the impairment of 
these functions in and of itself constitutes, disease. 
He further says, " After a heavy meal, it relieves the 
sense of oppression and helps digestion. " What it 
really accomplishes, however, in such cases, is this: 
it mitigates the immediate effects of excess by dilut- 
ing and washing away a portion of the food (of 
course unprepared for intestinal digestion), and, after 



246 THE NATURAL CURE. 

the first conjestive effects have subsided, by pro- 
ducing anaemia of the stomach, thereby hindering 
digestion, it relieves temporarily, but at great cost 
ultimately, the sense of oppression produced by a 
gluttonous meal. By hindering digestion, in this or in 
any other manner, as, for example, by resuming mus- 
cular or mental labor directly after eating, we may 
prevent or delay plethora — the surcharge of the blood 
with nutritive material that results from the rapid 
absorption of an over-full meal ; * but later on there 
will take place in the alimentary tract more or less 
fermentation of its undigested contents, which, with 
the foul and noxious gases generated thereby, will, to 
a greater or less degree, be absorbed into the circula- 
tion. Thus we observe the two-fold effect of this 
most delicious and seductive beverage : by " lessening 
the waste," it prevents the body from remaining sound 
in its tissues, (see index : " fossil bodies ") and causes 
blood-poisoning from indigestion. For if, by reason 
of anaemia of the stomach and intestines, the digestive 
fluids are not secreted in sufficient amount to preserve 
it, " the food rapidly undergoes chemical decomposi- 
tion in the alimentary canal, and often putrefies." f 
This accounts for the gas coming from the stomach 
and bowels of persons troubled with indigestion and 
constipation, who frequently complain of a rptten-egg 
taste in the 'mouth. "This gas, in its poisonous 
effect, is similar to hydrocyanic or prussic acid, only 



* As explained elsewhere (p. 201), gentle exercise in the open air, aftei 
such a meal, though not the best, is nevertheless a remedy. 
+ Effects of Excess in Diet, " Physiology and Hygiene," p. 402, Huxley. 



COFFEE. 247 

not so powerful. It is a very destructive agent in its 
interference with those vital processes concerned in 
ultimate nutrition, robbing the blood corpuscles of 
vitality, and preventing the transformation into tissue 
of the nutriment conveyed by the circulation, and of 
worn-out tissue into waste, thus poisoning the blood 
and nervous centers, and disturbing the whole animal 
economy." In view of this state of things, need we 
search with microscopes for the causes of sickness, go 
outside of our own bodies for " malaria,'' or look to 
any extraordinary circumstance as essential to gener- 
ate the most deadly diseases? According to the 
recent experiments (on dogs) of M. Lennen, commu- 
nicated to the Paris Society of Biology, coffee does 
produce " anaemia of the stomach, retards digestion, 
and, the anaemia repeating itself, ends by bringing on 
habitual increased congestion of the stomach, which, 
according to M. Lennen, is synonymous with dys- 
pepsia." 

It is not difficult, then, to comprehend why the 
final effect of coffee must be especially injurious, if 
not disastrous, to asthmatics and " consumptives," the 
head and front of whose disease is dyspepsia, pure 
and simple. (See "Consumption.") The British Med* 
teal Journal, after noting the experiments of M. Len- 
nen, and favoring his conclusions, goes on to say : " It 
is well known — and English physicians have laid great 
stress upon this point — that the abuse of coffee and 
tea often brings on gastralgia, dyspepsia, and, at the 
same time, more or less disturbance of the apparatus 
of innervation^ The question naturally arises, What 



248 THE NATURAL CURE. 

constitutes an " abuse " of a medicine ? I should say, 
its daily use as a beverage. 

Coffee is a purgative — a very agreeable form of 
breakfast pill — but, as with all purgative medi- 
cines, an increasing dose is necessary, and its final 
effect is constipation, with no end of possibilities as a 
result of the retention of waste matters in the blood. 
Constipation, however produced, is a predisposing 
cause, and the continuance of the habits that have pro- 
duced and now maintain it constitutes a sufficient ex- 
citing cause, of such diseases as neuralgia, rheuma- 
tism, erysipelas, fevers of various sorts (including scar- 
let fever and " head cold,") and, with the aid of sewer 
gas insufficiently diluted with outdoor air — by means 
of ventilation — diphtheria, or any of the zymotic 
" diseases." Worst of all, those more terrible mala- 
dies (because more permanent and enduring, and un- 
recognized as symptoms of disease), as nervousness, 
peevishness, irritability, and general unreasonableness, 
are due, in great measure, to impoverishment of the 
blood ; the nerves are insufficiently nourished, and 
the brain is " set on edge " by the poisoned circulation. 

Professor Prescott makes this very interesting re- 
mark with regard to the chemistry of coffee and tea : 
" But the change of guanine into theine is easily ac- 
complished. It is perfectly practicable to bring guano 
material to the laboratory, and send away the same 
atomic elements transformed into the snow-white, 
silky crystals of theine. Given only sufficient demand 
for the pure stimulant principle of tea and coffee, and 
a market high enough above the cost of its vegetable 



COFFEE, 



249 



sources, and it might then safely be predicted that not 
many months would elapse before companies with 
thousands of capital stock would engage successfully 
in the chemical manufacture of theine from guano. 
Then, very likely, rival companies would establish the 
claim to manufacture a still purer article from certain 
of the waste substances of the world — articles more 
accessible than guano/' 

As to the nutritive properties of coffee, although 
the food constituents of the berry are considerable in 
quantity, yet so deficient are they in digestibility that, 
in the infusion especially, it is more than doubtful if 
they are of advantage in supporting life, under any 
circumstances ; indeed, I have no doubt that the poi- 
sonous effects of the alkaloid and tannin far outweigh 
any gain from the nutrients. At any rate, he would 
be a bold man, indeed, and I doubt not a defeated 
one in the end, who should attempt to imitate Mr. 
John Griscomb's fast of forty-five days (which was at- 
tended by no discomfort even), substituting coffee in- 
fusion for pure water. 

Coffee interferes with digestion, and, consequently, 
with nutrition, aside from its specific or general effects 
upon the digestive organs, by the manner in which 
it is usually taken : a mouthful of food and then a 
draught of the beverage prevents the necessity of chew- 
ing* and prohibits the secretion of the saliva and its ad- 



* x * The prevalence of "bad teeth " is in my opinion referable chiefly to three 
causes : (1) innutrition resulting; from the use of impoverished or indigl 
food substance, (2) the use of hot drinks, (3) non-use of the teeth ; dental ex- 
ercise is the best dentrifice. Observe the quality, whiteness and clean con- 
dition of the dogs' teeth : from early youth their " tooth-brushes " arc bones, 
II* 



2 5 O THE NA TURAL C URE. 

mixture with the starchy elements of the cereals and 
vegetables, so essential to the preparation of 'this class 
of food for digestion further on. The first process in 
the transformation of starch into blood, is its conver- 
sion into grape sugar, and we know that saliva fulfills 
this function ; and while it is believed that the intes- 
tinal juices also act in the same manner, still, we are 
not at liberty to suppose that the preliminary change 
designed to be begun in the mouth is unnecessary. 
Or, if it be in a measure true that this fluid, being 
constantly secreted and swallowed, thus performs 
its legitimate function, it is certain that the salivary 
glands are injured, their functions impaired, and 
the quality and quantity of their secretions mod- 
ified by the ingestion of hot, astringent fluids ; and 
this must certainly be one of the injurious effects of 
tobacco-chewing or smoking. No one would suppose 
for one moment that the glands of the liver, or kid- 
neys, for example, could continue their offices satisfac- 
torily in face of constant contact with a poultice of 
tobacco, corresponding in size to an ordinary quid, 
which would, in the mouth of a novice, produce 
purgative effects, often within one minute from 
its application. In fact, it may be relied upon that 
the ingestion into the mouth or stomach of any sub- 
stance that causes the bowels to " act," in the com- 
mon understanding of this term, whether the dose 
be in solid or liquid form — tends to, and the constant 



which they are constantly gnawing. Bread-crusts, or wheat-kernels, would 
do the business for our young growing children, replacing "candy," for in- 
stance. 



COFFEE. 251 

or frequent use of such devices will, impair and per- 
manently injure the entire alimentary tract, from 
mouth to anus, and all its secreting and excreting 
glands. 

Coffee is a diuretic, and hence its habitual use pro- 
motes disease of the kidneys. " Very warm drinks 
are in themselves debilitating to the stomach, but the 
addition of the properties of tea, coffee, or other herbs, 
burdens the kidneys and urinary apparatus with an 
unnatural amount of labor continually. (See Bright's 
Disease.) These organs, kept constantly over-excited, 
must become debilitated, and preternaturally irritable, 
and this condition of debility and irritability extends 
sympathetically to all the surrounding viscera ; finally, 
the abdominal muscles themselves become relaxed, 
and, with the general nervous exhaustion produced 
by the active nervine and narcotic properties of the 
herb throughout the system, a foundation is laid for 
the whole train of maladies, displacements of organs, 
disordered functions, and ' weaknesses/ which are so 
general at the present day." 

Again, coffee is often referred to as a respiratory 
food. It does, in small doses, and at first, have the 
effect to excite abnormally the nerves governing the 
respiratory movements, as well as those of the heart, 
stomach, etc. — stimulates them ; hence the tendency, 
finally, to sluggish action of these organs, and even par 
ralysis : a peculiar type of " nightmare " often met with 
among coffee and tobacco users, illustrates this well, 
although the connection is not usually comprehended, 
— a feeling of suffocation, following one of pressure, 



252 



THE NATURAL CURE. 



or " rushing feeling, ,, at the base of the brain, as it is 
often described ; usually observed at night just as the 
individual is dropping off to sleep, seemingly at the 
very moment of " losing " himself, and very naturally, 
too, at this particular moment : prior thereto there 
had been somewhat of a constrained feeling, perhaps, 
unobserved by the victim, who, while awake, would 
continue the process of breathing by means of an un- 
conscious, but still real, degree of voluntary effort. 
In sleep, the suffocation which ensues causes the vic- 
tim to wake with a start and with a violent palpita- 
tion of the heart ; or he may not succeed in rousing 
himself: this means death. In fact, all stimulants 
and poisons, as tobacco, coffee, distilled liquors, etc., 
tend to local and general paralysis. 

Coffee is styled the drink, par excellence y of the 
brain-worker. Cases like the following are by no 
means rare : Under the influence of two or three cups 
of strong coffee the brain of an essayist works sat- 
isfactorily, perhaps for hours ; the hands and feet 
meanwhile growing cold and clammy, and the entire 
surface " chilly," while the brain throbs with conges- 
tion, until, finally, the mind becomes confused, strange 
mistakes are made, words are repeated or misspelled, 
and although the over-stimulated but now clogged and 
exhausted brain can see, dimly outlined within itself, 
pages, whole chapters perhaps, that must be written 
now or be forever lost — or at least his diseased imag- 
ination thus pictures it — still he finds it impossible to 
proceed, and with a martyr spirit, or perhaps despair- 
ingly, he ceases from his labors. A night of disturbed 



COFFEE. 



253 



sleep (see article on Insomnia) almost surely follows, 
and during its waking intervals the brain often does its 
best work, which is worse than lost, unless the sufferer 
rises in (what should be) " the dead hours of the night " 
to record his brilliant thoughts. This effort he is often 
loath to make : he can think, or rather can not stop 
thinking, but he feels too weak to rise. Imperfect, 
however, as may be his repose, still, he may, with the 
aid of fresh stimulation, be enabled to take up his 
work again for the day. This may go on indefinitely, 
but with less and less satisfactory results from month 
to month, — neuralgic pains, " nervous headaches," or 
other evidence of visceral irritation, meantime adding 
to the sufferings to be endured, — until, after a time, 
becoming alarmed, he feels the need of a long vaca- 
tion. If, however, in spite of all premonitions of dan- 
ger, he keeps on denying himself the " rest " (from 
stimulation as well as from labor) he so much needs, 
it is like pulling a heavy load up-hill, and a little later 
he finds himself utterly prostrated. Whether, now, 
he dies speedily of paralysis, " heart disease," or " ner- 
vous prostration ' ; fails gradually and dies of i con- 
sumption " ; or recovers some degree of health, after 
a long illness, the cause of his disease is believed by 
himself, friends — and physician, perhaps — to have 
been " overwork."" In fact, it is the effect of stimula- 



* The same amount of the stimulant alone (coffee, tobacco, wine, or what 
not), ivithout the hard work that tended to aid in its elimination, would have 
made quicker work of it. What such a person requires under these circum- 
stances is to give his brain rest from severe mental application. Nor is it, \\\ 
my opinion, sound doctrine to say that a weary-brained man may rest bv 
rushing at muscular exercise, or vice versa* To a certain extent the rule 



254 THE NATURAL CURE. 

tion inciting to excessive brain, to the neglect of phys* 
ical, exercise ; the brain is clogged by its own unex- 
creted waste, and the entire system unbalanced and 
unstrung. It is in such cases that a resort to H tonic 
treatment," beef-tea, or a " generous diet " of flesh- 
food — for which, perhaps, a fictitious appetite is crea- 
ted by the use of " regular " or irregular bitters — oft- 
en destroys the patient's last chance for recovery. 
" It is," says Professor Brunton, " piling on fuel, in- 
stead of removing ash."* 

The illustration here given is one of the worst cases, 
but such instances are frequently observed among the 
class usually designated as brain workers, not only, 
but among business men, whose work, scheming, mis- 
haps, and unnatural habits altogether, bring them to 
sick-beds and premature graves ; while mild forms are 
met with constantly everywhere. 

Whatever degree of eminence our brain-workers 
may hope to attain under any form of stimulation, 
before their lives shall be prematurely ended, all may 
rest assured that by obeying the laws of life and build- 
ing up a healthy body they will, in the long run — the 
" run " made longer thereby — do more and better work 
without than with artificial aid. The stimulus of good 

holds good ; but the exhausted or very tired man requires a period of abso- 
lute rest, before taking up any form of work. At the proper time, however, 
he will be improved by taking up active exercise in the open air, and per- 
forming daily such regular muscular and literary work as he can comfortably, 
however little this may be, without any sort of stimulation other than that 
derived from simple, nutritious food and pure air. (See article on Consump- 
tion for hint as to exercise.) 

-•"Indigestion as a Cause of Nervous Prostration," Popular Scie7ic& 
Mo?itfily, January, 1881. 



COFFEE. 



255 



health is far better than that derived from any stimu- 
lating drink. The most brilliant productions of the 
brain, under stimulation, may, strictly speaking, be 
called premature births. 

Professor Proctor, in the paper before alluded to, 
further says: " Notwithstanding the adoption of 
theine-containing beverages by mankind at large, we 
can not hesitate to commend that robust habit which 
discards all dependence on adventitious food, even on 
so mild a stimulus as that of the tea-cup, and pre- 
serves through life the fresh integrity of full nervous 
susceptibility. And probably there was never a time 
when there were so many persons as now who are 
disposed, by conviction and by a desire for a stalwart 
physical independence, to refuse to fix any habit that 
holds the nervous system/' 

Dr. Segur asserts that "habitual coffee-drinkers 
generally enjoy good health and live to a good old 
age." We find, however, that a very large proportion 
of those coffee-drinkers who are observing and con- 
scientious freely confess to the ill effects of the bever- 
age : It makes them " nervous, irritable, or gives them 
headache frequently," they say ; and it is quite com- 
mon to hear them declare that they would leave it off 
if they could, but they " depend on it — it is the prin- 
cipal part of breakfast/' Often enough it is all the 
breakfast taken. It prevents hunger or appeases it 
by rendering the stomach anaemic, and its stimulating 
effects are mistaken for added strength. And it is 
even worse where the coffee-drinker is at the same 
time a full-feeder; for, are we not told that this bev- 



256 THE NA TURAL C URE. 

erage " lessens the waste of tissue and renders less 
food necessary? " Quite a percentage of even robust 
people, beginning to feel, or to recognize after having 
long felt, the twinges of dyspepsia do, either on their 
own judgment or by the advice of the family physi- 
cian, give up the habit, and find great benefit from 
the change; and but for clinging to other unnatural 
practices, they might often bid adieu to all their phys- 
ical ills. 

A few, comparatively, of the most vigorous men 
and women, it can not be denied, do " enjoy good 
health and live to a good old age," in spite of many 
injurious practices, including the habitual use of the 
stimulant coffee. But even these have their intervals 
of suffering, more or less severe — "attacks " that bet- 
ter habits would prevent. Of the latter class, out of 
scores whom I might mention, the experience of O. 
B. Frothingham is noteworthy. He says : " Although 
no positive ill effect has been traceable to either of them 
[tea and coffee] or wine, all of which have been used 
sparingly, yet, were my life to live over again, I 
should accustom myself to abstinence from all three. 
It seems to me now, on looking back, that something 
of dullness and languor, something of exhaustion and 
dreaminess, something of lethargy, something too of 
heat and irritability, may be chargeable to a practice 
not in any grave degree harmful or blameworthy. The 
faculties have been less keen and patient than they 
would have been under a strictly natural regimen. ,, 

It might, perhaps, in this connection, be profitable 
to ask, 



STIMULATION. 257 

WHAT IS A " STIMULANT " ? 

In reply I would say that any poisonous or unnat 
ural substance ingested into the living body, in 
amount within the ability of the vital organism to 
readily expel it ; or even of the most wholesome food 
substance in excess of the needs of the organism, and 
yet, again, not so excessive as to depress the vital 
forces instead of spurring them to increased efforts 
to thrust it out, is a stimulant. In short, anything of 
an injurious nature, by reason of quality, amount, or 
the conditions under which it is administered,, may 
produce stimulating effects. But the inevitable " re- 
action " of stimulation is depression; although, from 
natural causes, convalescents often make sufficient 
progress to overwhelm, or at least obscure, the evi- 
dence of the secondary effects. 

Speaking with direct reference to the effect of al- 
kaloids in general, Professor Prescott says, " While a 
certain portion stimulates the nervous system, a large 
portion acts as a sedative, so that a difference in 
quantity of the potion causes a difference in kind of 
its effects." It should ever be borne in mind that the 
increased action under stimulation is simply the extra 
effort forced upon the vital organism to expel an in- 
truder — the intruder being the stimulant itself. If 
this be the case, it necessarily follows that stimulants 
deplete, and can never replenish the vital exchequer. 
Instances have been noted of children who were ob- 
served to be unusually active and jubilant immedi- 
ately prior to an "attack" of diphtheria. In such 
case — and a true history of every case might estab- 



258 THE NATURAL CURE. 

lish this as the rule — the diphtheritic poison acts as a 
stimulant ; nature is trying to thrust it out, and all 
the life forces are abnormally active. We can not 
know in how many instances she succeeds in these 
efforts, nor yet how often her defeats are due to the 
administration of poisons, and food that for want of 
digestion becomes a poison, altogether so adding to 
the toxic condition that nature finally ends an evil she 
can not cure. After a vigorous expulsive efforts, for 
example, the system, temporarily quiescent, gathering 
fresh strength for a renewal of the conflict to dislodge 
the enemy, or, possibly, having already accomplished 
the main work, now rests in the stage preceding con- 
valescence — is supposed to require the aid of a stimu- 
lant, and food also must be given at frequent inter- 
vals " to prevent the patient from sinking; " but alas, 
this proves the weight about his neck that carries him 
to the bottom — " supported " to death. In compar- 
ing the stimulation of the vital organism, in sickness, 
to the spurring up of a tired or lazy animal to greater 
exertion, there is always this grand difference : the 
former will every time, and always, exert its entire 
force, that is, will exert it better, more savingly to 
life, without, than with, stimulation. " Self-preserva- 
tion is the first law of nature; " and no other circum- 
stance possible to imagine, better illustrates this law, 
than the living organism in sickness. 

Coffee makes the timid or diffident man brave — gives 
him confidence in himself ; but, by " reaction/' this 
fictitious bravery gives place to nervousness. Many 
persons experience a certain undefinable dread of ap- 



STIMULATION. 



259 



proaching danger, a veritable " can't-sleep-for-fear-of- 
burglars" sort of wakefulness, which leaves them after 
a few weeks' abstinence from coffee-stimulation. Hot 
coffee or tea makes one warm — the very finger-tips 
tingle with warm blood ; but later, in default of 
another dram — perhaps in spite of it — he feels chilly, 
even in a warm room ; there is a " can't-get-warm-any 
way " sort of feeling, to be accounted for, he fancies, 
only upon the theory that he has " caught cold ! " 
He is suffering from coffee poisoning. 

Although personally a dear lover of coffee, and, by 
reason of an exceptionally robust habit of body, at 
present, able to indulge in its use with less apparent 
harm than I find, upon long and careful inquiry and 
observation, is the case with most people, yet, never- 
theless, I stand condemned by the eulogy of Abd-el- 
Kadir Anasari Dgezeri Hambali, son of Mahomet : " O 
coffee ! thou dispellest the cares of the great ; thou 
bringest back those who wander from the paths of 
knowledge. Coffee is the beverage of the people of 
God, and the cordial of his servants who thirst for 
wisdom. When coffee is infused into the bowl, it 
exhales the odor of musk, and is of the color of ink. 
The truth is not known except to the wise, who 
drink it from the foaming coffee-cup. God has de- 
prived fools of coffee, who, with invincible obstinacy, 
condemn it as injurious/' 

According to Professor Prescott, " the administra- 
tion of theine in small portions, to animals or to man, 
quickens the circulation and effects some degree of 
mental exhilaration and wakefulness. In final result. 



260 THE NATURAL CURE, 

the excretion of carbonic-acid gas is diminished, 
and the flow of blood through the capillaries is re- 
tarded." " Larger portions/' he continues, " prove 
poisonous, causing painful restlessness, rigidity of the 
muscles, and general exhaustion. Not more than 
three or four grains at once can be properly taken for 
medicinal or experimental purposes. " As often pre- 
pared for old coffee-tipplers, two cupfuls (about 
16 oz.) of the infusion will contain this quantity of 
the alkaloid. As usually taken, of course, the pro- 
portion of the alkaloid is much less. In conclusion, 
I would repeat that it may with propriety be claimed 
for coffee that its administration as a medicine is as 
legitimate as that of any other, and no more so ; cer- 
tainly its daily use as an article of diet is as incon- 
sistent and contrary to reason, as the similar use of 
any drug in the materia medica. 



Note. — In the foregoing I have not considered the question of the in- 
fluence of tea and coffee upon the "temperance movement." One of the 
keenest observers of human nature, as well as one of our soundest thinkers, 
Dr. Oswald, from whose Physical Education I have freely drawn in the 
chapters on Consumption — and his view in this matter is endorsed by many 
very able physiologists and sociologists — says (p. 64) : "The road to the 
rum-cellar leads through the coffee-house. Abstinence from all stimulants, 
only, is easier than temperance." Everywhere do I find temperance reform- 
ers essaying to lead rum-drinkers back by the road they canie, viz : back 
through the coffee-house — taking a drink en route. I think that, in the long 
run, they will do better to try to conduct them from the " gin-mill " squarely 
into the street, and thence home. While not desiring to furnish arguments 
for the opponents of temperance (I would that all stimulants were done 
away with), I cannot forbear pointing out what seems to me a glaring incon- 
sistency among my co-laborers in reform. Of course all must admit that, in 
many respects, there can be no comparison drawn between liquor-drinking 
and tea and coffee-drinking: Other things equal, the man who drinks 
"rum" to excess, works vastly more misery in the world than the coffee 



STIMULATION, 2 6l 

toper ; though, individually, if the latter were to indulge as copiously as does 
his spirit-drinking contemporary, he would suffer as much, probably more, 
in his health — would die more speedily. Of course we know that few cof- 
fee and tea-drinkers indulge to this extreme ; but when we consider the al- 
most universal use of these beverages — by women and growing children, as 
well as by men, it is more than doubtful whether they do not, per se, from 
a health point of view (considering, moreover, the influence of disease upon 
morals) aggregate more harm than their more " ardent" rivals. Added to 
this, the fact that the use of one stimulant often leads to the use of others 
and stronger (as we have always argued that beer and wine lead on to 
whisky and brandy), the friends of true reform may well ask themselves 
whether, in their own indulgence in tea and coffee, and in^he effort to in- 
crease their use among the people, they are not hitting wide of the mark ? 
I am well aware that wine-drinkers, and those who indulge moderately in 
stronger drink, often pertinently reply to temperance workers, "When all 
the temperance reformers leave off their favorite stimulants we will leave 
off ours." Says Dr. Dudley A. Sargent, Professor of Physical Culture at 
Harvard College, "I am convinced that coffee works more injury to man- 
kind than beer." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

APPETITE — CONTINENCE. 

P 
APPETITE, in a general sense, means a natural degree 

of hunger (not craving), sufficient to give relish for 
any kind of wholesome food. " We often hear people 
say they have no taste for this or that article of plain 
food, although many such have an insatiable appetite 
for all the dainties of the table. Morbid appetites 
are thus engendered by continuous habits of induL 
gence. Natural appetites are first enfeebled and then 
vitiated ; health of body is slowly and insidiously im- 
paired, until, by and by, innate nobility and hopeful 
youth and strength become effeminate, fastidious? 
weak, irascible, and selfish ; and though outwardly, 
perhaps, refined and delicate, the person inwardly be- 
comes inactive, apathetic, and unhelpful to himself 
and to the world. The natural sun of heat and life 
within the body and the soul, being overcast by the 
clouds and exhalations of unhealthy organs, often 
leads the victim of self-indulgence to seek externally 
for artificial stimulants to keep up an appearance of 
genial warmth within — but this can only be appar- 
ently successful for a time ; and soon the penalty of 
the transgression of the laws of nature must be paid 
(262) 



APPETITE— CONTINENCE. 263 

*> 

in full, and with a large additional amount of costs. 
It is of great importance, therefore, to watch the ap- 
petites of body and of mind ; to study the laws of 
healthy equilibrium ; and, above all, to learn to know 
and understand the dangers of prolonged self-indul- 
gence of the appetites of pleasure in mere animal sen- 
sation and wild imagination. Appetite, properly so 
called, apprises man of the natural wants of the organ- 
ism, and compliance with these internal promptings 
is rewarded by the double pleasure of the sense of 
taste in eating, and the feeling of comfort within, aris- 
ing from the food supplied to the digestive system. 
But where the mind is weak and the delights of bodily 
sensation strong, the pleasures of taste or the charm 
of varied sensations in the palate dwell on the imag- 
ination and excite it to renewed indulgence of phys- 
ical sensations, irrespective of the wants of the internal 
organism, and this even notwithstanding its declining 
health and manifest debility." The morbid cravings . 
of the sense of perverted taste, or any other sense, 
must not be confounded, therefore, with the natural 
appetite excited by the wants of the internal organism. 
" In the bear tribes there is a marked preference for 
honey manifested, which reveals a sense of taste that 
works on the imagination, and leads him to incur the 
risk of being stung to death by an infuriated swarm 
of bees rather than forego the sensual delights of 
plundering the hive and licking out the honeycomb 
when he is master of the spoils. The swollen head 
and face and ears are nothing to the charm of sensual 
indulgence." When I observe the sufferers from sick- 



264 TUP NATURAL CURE. 

headache or neuralgia (see Rheumatism), with swollen 
face and bandaged head, I am forcibly reminded of 
the honey-loving bear. 

No expert can observe the habits of the people and 
fail to account for all the diseases that afflict the hu- 
man family. Victims of disobedience to the natural 
laws — they have done the things they ought not to 
have done, and have left undone the things they 
ought to have done, and (consequently) there is no 
health in them. Diseases — how slowly we accept 
their teaching — how blind we are to their warning 
voice ! The word itself is not understood. The term 
disease is popularly applied only to the most serious 
forms, such as have been named, when it is properly 
applicable to any condition other than the normal 
condition of the body — perfect ease. Acidity, heart- 
burn, flatulence, slight pains in the head, uneasy sen- 
sations of whatever sort — so little regarded until too 
late — are they not dis-ease ? They speak plainly of 
indigestion, — the causes of which are recited else- 
where ; — they are to the body what the degree-points 
are to the thermometer, and require only to be con- 
scientiously considered to ensure freedom from dis- 
turbance. 

Other appetites there are which become morbid 
and too often control the individual, instead of being 
themselves under entire subjection to him. 

The unnatural habits of our civilization have caused 
the race to depart from the natural instinct of 

CONTINENCE 
which, to the minds of many, is as essential to the 



APPE TITE— CONTINENCE. 2 6$ 

moral and physical health of the race after, as to 
its " virtue" before, marriage ; and which, but for the 
inflammatory nature of the diet in general use, and 
the disorders arising therefrom, might easily be prac- 
ticed by all conscientious and thoughtful people. A 
radical modification of the prevailing dietetic prac- 
tices would lessen, immeasurably, the constant war- 
fare between the moral desires and the animal pro- 
pensities, to which both the married and the single 
are subjected, and which results in disaster in so 
many instances. " Marital excesses often produce in 
the offspring sexual precocity and passions which, 
under the influence of an unwholesome and stimula- 
ting dietary, are rendered ungovernable, and entail a 
vast deal of shame and sorrow throughout the lives 
of those who are ' more sinned against than sinning.' 
Verily the sins of the parents shall be visited upon 
the children even to the third and fourth generation 
of them that hate Him and violate His law." * 

"Ah! my friends," said the Rev. F. W. Farrar, 
Canon of Westminster Abbey, " how vast a part of 
human disease results, not only from the ignorance 
but also from the folly and sin of man. Typhoid, 
leprosy, small-pox, and jail-fever are not by any means 
the only diseases which might be almost, if not quite, 
eliminated from among us. We talk with deep self- 
pity of the ravages of gout and cancer and consump- 
tion and mental alienation. Alas ! haw many of these 
might in one or tzvo generations eease to be, if zee all 



* Chapter on " Health Hints" in " How To Feed The Baby." 
12 



266 THE NATURAL CURE. 

lived the wise and temperate and happy lives which 
Nature meant us to lead ! And the voice of Nature, 
rightly interpreted, is ever the voice of God. Even 
the simplest of us are superfluous in our demands, 
and the vast majority of men so live as, more or less, 
habitually to pamper the appetite by wasteful extrav- 
agance and weaken the health by baneful luxuries. 
By unwholesome narcotics, by burning and adulter- 
ated stimulants, by many and highly-seasoned meats, 
by thus storing the blood with unnatural elements 
which it can not assimilate, they clog and carnalize 
the aspirations which they should cherish, and feed 
into uncontrollable force the passions which they 
should control. Hence it is that millions of lives are 
like sweet bells jangled out of tune ; and millions bf 
men in these days, like the Israelites of old, are laid 
to rest in Kibroth Hattaavah — the graves of lust ! 

"And the sad thing is that this heavy punishment 
ends not with the individual. It is not only that the 
boy when he has marred his own boyhood, hands on 
its moral results to the youth ; and the youth when 
he has marred them yet more irretrievably hands 
them on to the man that he may finish the task of 
that perdition ; — but alas ! the man also hands them 
on to his innocent children, and they are born with 
bodies tormented with the disproportionate impulses, 
sickly with the morbid cravings, enfeebled by the in- 
creasing degeneracy, tainted by the retributive disease 
of guilty parents." 

We must remember, says Albert LeffingweH, quot- 
ing the above in " Laws of Life," that he who speaks 



APPETITE— CONTINENCE. 267 

thus is no obscure Boanerges, vaguely ranting over 
abstract sin, but one of the few great preachers in the 
Church of England, speaking in the most venerable 
religious edifice in Protestant Christendom. 

The most persistent and thorough cramming of 
our youth with high moral precepts avails but little, 
after all, — we observe this constantly, — to counteract 
the fierce impulses of an unbalanced physical state. 

Says the Duke of Argyle : " The truth is, that 
we are born into a system of things in which 
every act carries with it, by indissoluble ties, a 
long train of consequences reaching to the most 
distant future, and which for the whole course of 
time affect our own condition, the condition of 
other men, and even the conditions of external nat- 
ure. And yet we can not see those consequences 
beyond the shortest way, and very often those 
which lie nearest are in the highest degree decep- 
tive as an index to ultimate results. Neither pain 
nor pleasure can be accepted as a guide. With the 
lower animals, indeed, these, for the most part tell 
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
truth. Appetite is all that the creature has, and in 
the gratification of it the highest law of the animal 
being is fulfilled. In man, too, appetite has its own 
indispensable function to discharge. But it is a lower 
function, and amounts to nothing more than that of 
furnishing to Reason a few of the primary data on 
which it has to work — a few, and a few only. Physi- 
cal pain is indeed one of the threatenings of natural 
authority; and physical pleasure is one of its rewards. 



268 THE NA TURAL CURE. 

But neither the one nor the other forms more than a 
mere fraction of that awful and imperial code under 
which we live. It is the code of an everlasting 
kingdom, and of a jurisprudence which endures 
throughout all ages." .... u It is no mere failure 
to realize aspirations which are vague and imaginary 
that constitutes this exceptional element (the per- 
sistent tendency of his development to take a wrong 
direction) in the history and in the actual conditions 
of mankind. That which constitutes the terrible 
anomaly of his case admits of perfectly clear and 
specific definition. Man has been and still is a con- 
stant prey to appetites which are morbid — to opinions 
which are irrational, to imaginings which are horri- 
ble, and to practices which are destructive. The 
prevalence and the power of these in a great variety 
of forms and of degrees is a fact with which we are 
familiar — so familiar, indeed, that we fail to be duly 
impressed with the strangeness and the mystery 
which really belong to it. All savage races are bowed 
and bent under the yoke of their own perverted in- 
stincts — instincts which generally in their root and 
origin have an obvious utility, but which in their act- 
ual development are the source of miseries without 
number and without end. Some of the most horri- 
bie perversions which are prevalent among savages, 
(and which to a greater or less degree affect all civil- 
ized peoples), have no counterpart among any other 
created beings, and when judged by the barest 
standard of utility, place man immeasurably below 
the level of the beasts. We are accustomed to say 



APPETITE-CONTINENCE. 269 

of many of the habits of savage life that they are 
' brutal/ But this is entirely to misrepresent the 
place which they really occupy in the system of Na- 
ture. None of the brutes have any such perverted 
dispositions ; none of them are ever subject to the 
destructive operation of such habits as are common 
among men. And the contrast is all the more re- 
markable when we consider that the very worst of 
these habits affect conditions of life which the lower 
animals share with us, and in which any departure 
from those natural laws which they universally obey, 
must necessarily produce, and do actually produce, 
consequences so destructive as to endanger the very 
existence of the race. Such are all those conditions 
of life affecting the relation of the sexes which are 
common to all creatures, and in which man alone ex- 
hibits the widest and most hopeless divergence from 
the order of Nature." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

CONCLUSION. 

While the more important material agencies afid 
conditions, closely related to the processes of life, are 
air, food, clothing, etc. ; and while the reader's atten- 
tion has been, throughout, mainly directed to these ; 
it would, from the author's point of view, constitute 
a serious defect of the work, to omit the special con- 
sideration of the moral nature — its mighty influence 
over the physical state. In no better way can I im- 
press this thought than by quoting the language of 
that veteran hygienist and reformer, Dr. James C. 
Jackson : 

" But while a human being has a physical organi- 
zation, and has, therefore, physical laws, he is dual,, 
possessing also a spiritual nature ; and to treat him for 
any disease he may have as though it originated in 
his body and did not relate itself at all to his soul or 
spirit, is to treat him, in ninety-nine cases in a hun- 
dred, unphilosophically and therefore unscientifically. 
Our observation and experience go to satisfy us that 
the majority of sick persons become disturbed and 
disorded in spirit before they show disorder or de- 
rangement of body. 

" To illustrate : a man never comes to be a dyspeptic 
(270) 



CONCLUSION. 271 

until he has a false spiritual conception of the true 
relations which he should hold to the use of food ; 
he is conceptively sick before he is physically dys- 
peptic ; he turns things right around in his mind ; he 
lives to eat instead of eating to live ; he is spiritually 
depraved before he becomes physically diseased. 
Take the methods of life common to our people. It 
is largely through these that they become sick. They 
eat badly, drink badly, dress unhealthfully, work 
without reference to their power to recover from the 
fatigue which work imposes, do not get sleep enough, 
are in a fret, or in a worry, or in a strife, or are under 
strain in their work. They work selfishly or for their 
own good only, and often as against the good of 
others ; they seek to thrive at others* unthrift ; they 
buy and sell with the view in their minds of living 
gainfully at others' loss ; they have a false conception, 
a perverse view, of the relationships which they 
should hold to others, and under this spiritual per- 
versity they put forth their energies. As they are in- 
wardly wrong they become outwardly disordered, and 
when this disorder develops into actual sickness it 
has a spiritual or wrong moral basis. Having 
violated the higher law of their natures, in selfishness 
of thought and feeling, they are compelled to take the 
reflex effects in and upon their bodies. Living with- 
out sympathy, they become sympathetically diseased ; 
the sympathetic forces in their nature, lacking proper 
expression or use, become debilitated and deranged, 
as shown in the abnormal condition of the sympa- 
thetic nervous structure. 



2J2 



THE NATURAL CURE. 



u For instance : a man with his liver functionally de- 
ranged appears before a physician : The pulse shows 
the circulation to be disturbed ; the excretory system 
has become largely inactive — the skin, bowels, 
kidneys, and lungs each working inefficiently or com- 
pelled to overdo. The doctor concludes that a good 
dose of calomel and jalap, which enter into the allo- 
pathic practice ; or some sitz-baths, skin-rubbing, 
packs, or injections, which would be the hydropathic 
practice ; or regulation of diet, connected with some 
mild alterative, which belong to the eclectic practice; 
or some little pills, which w T ould be the homoeopathic 
practice, are what the man needs. He is a glutton, 
or a wine-bibber, or he drinks whiskey, or he lives 
bodily not only, but morally and spiritually on the 
line of self-indulgence. He lives as he pleases, and 
this not merely in his animal life. He lives spiritu- 
ally as he pleases ; his spirit is selfish and lawless. 
Order and righteousness are not in all his thoughts. 
His conscience is asleep ; his intelligence is not at all 
on the alert ; he has no inspirations, or aspirations ; he 
simply has unhallowed desires, and his life consists 
largely in efforts to gratify these, and there he is — 
disturbed, disordered, deranged, diseased, sick. 

" When one thus affected comes to us, what do we do 
with him ? We bring him to judgment ; we summon 
him up into the presence of the truth. ,We say : 
You are at fault for this sickness of yours ; it is not 
necessary for you to be sick ; you may be a healthy 
person, you should be. You may be free from aches 
and pains, you ought to be. There is no defective- 



CONCL USION. 



273 



ness in your organization ; it is made to run success- 
fully ; that it does not, is your fault, not the fault of 
your circumstances. What you need is right per- 
ception and a good conscience to back it ; a willing- 
ness, not only, but a thorough will to do right. In 
you is ample vital force to set your liver right, make 
your bowels work, make your skin carry on its in- 
sensible perspiration, your blood circulate healthfully, 
and have everything done according to law. All that is 
necessary is that you put your spirit, your responsible 
consciousness on the throne, and make your body its 
servant. When you resolve to do this and begin to 
do it, you will begin to get well. You do not need 
medicine ; yon need nothing done for you in order to 
get well, except to do judiciously, and, in your con- 
ditions, discretely, what if you had done all the while 
would have kept you well. 

" The first thing to do is, not to consult doctors : 
not to hunt for some wonderful curative ; but to get 
right ideas of life, and then begin, though in a feeble 
manner, to conform yourself to that way spiritually. 
Love the thing you are going to do ; get your whole 
nature into a glow toward it. If it be to eat simple 
food, love to do it — not do it wishing you had not 
to do it. Look at the thing kindly, joyfully, com- 
fortingly. Put away your evil habits, one after 
another, because they are evil, not simply because 
they hurt you. Get up a rebellion in your spirit 
against wrong ways of living. Resolve that you will 
not live wrongly ; characterize that way as it should 
be characterized, as an improper, unmanly, mean, or 
12* 



274 



THE NATURAL CURE. 



unbefitting way for you. Say : I will not smoke ; I 
will not drink ; I will not make my body an instru- 
ment of gluttony ; and so go through your whole 
round of habits, putting away all those that you can 
get along without. Reduce your artificial wants to a 
minimum. Throw yourself over on the line of order 
and law, and regularity and propriety. Then you will 
get well." 



APPENDIX TO SECOND EDITION. 

I [NOTE on deep breathing.] 

A Good Hobby. — On pages 84, 111 and 137 I 
have barely touched upon this subject. I wish now 
to call attention to it as a matter worthy of greater 
consideration than might perhaps be gathered from 
what has been said. Personally, I begun the practice, 
when I was about sixteen years old, of taking long, 
deep breaths occasionally, at odd times during the 
day, from reading a little slip explaining its usefulness 
in " strengthening " the lungs, and increasing their 
capacity. At the age of eighteen, I remember, upon 
being examined for a life insurance policy, the exam- 
ining surgeon expressed great surprise at the unusual 
" swell " or expansion of my chest — about five inches 
increase when my lungs were fully inflated, over chest- 
measure when I had forced out as much air as I could 
conveniently. Upon explaining, that for a number 
of years I had made a practice of throwing my 
shoulders back, taking very deep inspirations slowly, 
holding my breath a moment, and then as slowly 
" breathing out " — doing this the first thing every 
morning on rising, and in a sleeping-room which was 
never close, again on going out, and occasionally 
during the day, — the doctor said : " A good plan ; 

(275) 



2?6 THE NATURAL CURE. 

that accounts for it." In all cases of weak lungs, 
whether chronic or from " taking cold " (see pp. 40 to 
45 for a consideration of the colds delusion), when it 
is difficult to take a full breath on account of " cramps," 
catches, or pain in the lungs, this practice will be 
found of great value, if persisted in. In many in- 
stances it seems impossible to take a long breath — is, 
indeed, impossible ; but a little gain may be made 
every day, by crowding down " one notch," so to say, 
at each trial. Quite a large percentage of all persons 
will find on trial that there is more or less of tender- 
ness upon first making the attempt, or at one time or 
another, whenever there is any degree of irritation of 
the stomach. The patient, or experimenter, should 
inspire a little, however little, beyond the point 
which seems all that he can do, and persist in 
this treatment every day. There can be no doubt 
but we have here a most important aid in the treat- 
ment of consumption, not only, but of all ill-conditions 
of the physical man. But the deep, full breathing 
that comes from having exercised vigorously is best 
of all (see page 84). 

2 [NOTE on bright^ disease.] 

How to Eat Meat. — In the chapter on this 
subject, I have taken the position that Albumi- 
nuria results from : (1) excess in diet ; (2) the use 
of foods that can not, or are not properly masti- 
cated and insalivated, as mush, or bread wet and 
washed down with any sort of artificial fluids, gravy- 
drowned vegetables, etc. ; (3) stimulating drinks, as 



APPENDIX TO SECOND EDITION. 277 

beer, spirits, tea, coffee, etc. ; (4) excess of animal 
food. To this I must add meat eaten in a manner 
totally different from that in vogue with all car- 
nivorous animals, viz. : hashed, or tender and well 
chewed, instead of being, as it should be, swallowed in 
pieces of convenient size — a rational modification in 
the premises, surely. Dogs, wolves, cats, and the 
like, are gourmands, to be sure, but this is not the 
fundamental reason for their manner of gulping their 
natural food whole. It has been shown by experi- 
ments that dogs fed on hashed meat suffer from in- 
digestion, a portion of their food passing undigested, 
while if fed the same quantity of meat in chunks, no 
part of it appears in the excreta, but all is perfectly 
digested. 

Grain-eating animals teach us how to eat grain ; or 
at least, how to masticate farinaceous food. We may 
well learn from the carnivore an analogous lesson — 
not, however, necessarily dispensing with knife and 
fork, napkin or finger-bowl, nor any other improve- 
ment over their primitive fashions ! 

THE POINT IS THAT FLESH-FOOD, 

unlike starchy foods, requires stomach digestioti' 
only (as against any change in the mouth), and 
only when taken in the natural manner, that is, 
substantially as meat-eating animals take it, is it 
retained in the stomach for a sufficient length of 
time to be dissolved by the gastric juice ; but much 
of it passes on into the intestine prematurely (ex- 
plaining, in great measure, the many cases of inflam- 



278 THE NATURAL CURE. 

mation of the bowels, as well as the frequent lesser 
disturbances), and doubtless a considerable propor- 
tion is absorbed in a more or less fermented state, 
adding thereby impure elements to the blood, and pre- 
disposing the individual to inflammatory disease. On 
the contrary, if meat is swallowed in pieces of mod- 
erate size, each piece being acted upon at the surface 
gradually dissolves from the outside, and so is perfectly 
changed by the gastric juice before leaving the stom- 
ach. In personal experiments I find much less incon- 
venience from eating flesh-food in this manner than re- 
sults when I treat it as we have always been taught 
to. It may be well to caution against eating a large 
portion of meat in this manner at first ; it would 
give the stomach a new experience and likely enough 
create disturbance. One-half the usual amount, taken 
naturally, would yield as much nourishment as the 
full ration, perhaps ; at any rate the change should 
be made gradually (see pp. 50-158, for further consid- 
eration of the animal food question). The following 
from the Practitioner, corresponds (as far as M. Sem- 
mola carries the point) with my view of the matter 
entirely, as regards the nature of the malady. Albu- 
minuria, or excess of albumen (that is, unappropriated 
albuminoids in the circulation, and which are conse- 
quently excretory matters), must necessarily result 
from any or all of the causes I have named — causes 
of indigestion. Says the Practitioner : 

"At a recent meeting of the Paris Academy of 
Medicine, M. Semmola, of Naples (' Progres medi- 
cal/ June 9, 1883), brought fQrward a new theory 



APPENDIX TO SECOND EDITION, 



279 



with regard to the causation of Bright's disease. 
This malady he regards as not essentially renal, but 
as consisting in a general morbid alteration of nutri- 
tion, and observes that albumen in such cases is not 
passed by the urine only, but by all the secretory 
organs. This alteration [or, rather, I should say, 
the lack of alteration by digestion] deprives the albu- 
minoid materials of the blood of their power of being 
assimilated, and so causes their excretion by the 
emunctories. The renal lesions he ascribes to me- 
chanical irritation of the tubules of the kidney by the 
constant passage of albumen through them. Albu- 
minuria is therefore a cause, not a result, oi renal 
disease.* M. Simmola founds these views on a series 
of experiments on animals. He injected into the 
blood-vessels various substances containing albumen, 
as white of egg, milk, and blood-serum, with the re- 
sult of inducing artificial Bright's disease. White of 
egg was most active in this way." 

3 [note to page 169.] 

Water as Medicine and Food. — There is no 
royal road to health once deeply diseased. In cer- 
tain cases, and for a limited period even in these, hot 
water is invaluable. But if long continued — used as a 
constant beverage instead of a temporary expedient to 
aid in removing the slime and " gurry " from stomachs 



* And this only one of the hundred and one instances, in medical practice, 
of " cart before the horse," which may make the difference of life or death 
with every patient under treatment ! 



280 THE NATURAL CURE, 

deeply coated * — the effect will be to keep this organ 
weak, as a number of Turkish baths every day would 
enfeeble, in time, the strongest man. One valid ob- 
jection to tea, chocolate, and coffee is, that they are 
usually taken hot (see " Coffee, etc."). 

Warm water is about the most effectual remedy 
known to me for acute dyspepsia. It should be 
drunk profusely, even to stomach distension, with 
finger exploration, if necessary, to produce vomiting ; 
then a few cupfuls to retain, to wash away any residue 
of undigested food, dilute the blood, etc. But cool, 
fresh water is the beverage par excellence for all the 
year round (see pp. 76-90-100). 

4 [NOTE ON ''NATURAL DIET."] 

With regard to the suggestion, on page 2 It, of 
using milk to wet farinaceous foods, in place of de- 
pending solely upon the natural mouth-juices, I wish 
to say that it was felt by me, at the time, to be 
entirely unphysiological, and by no means the best 
way to manage. I now wish to urge that in so far 
as any one chooses to test the advantages of this reg- 



* Such patients require a more or less extended fast. This is always safe, and 
in desperate cases the only means by which the necessary absorbing and healing 
process can be assured (see pp. 62-71-73-169). The stomach of a healthy 
creature is, when simply rinsed, absolutely clean and free from offensive 
matters ; but the constipated dyspeptic, or the consumptive, and many acutely 
diseased persons, have stormchs which resemble that of an o]d, stall-fed ox, 
which has to be scraped by the hour before the meanest tripe-eater would 
buy it, or place it upon his table at any price. Yet a great deal of this kind 
of tripe is eaten by stall-fed people every day. The flesh of healthy cattle 
finds no place in our markets nor on our tables. Beef creatures are fed for 
fatness and tenderness, which is disease. 



APPENDIX TO SECOND EDITION. 28 1 

imen he will not depart from a truly natural way, 
so far as the natural way is possible ; but rather use 
the whole grain, or the whole meal dry, and take the 
milk (if indulged in at all) by itself, and fruit likewise 
— after the grain. Several remarkable cases have oc- 
curred since this book was first issued, in which the 
curative powers of this diet have been displayed in a 
most marked manner. I take occasion to mention one. 
Mrs. L., of Lee, N. H., had been suffering for eight 
years, during which she had been able to walk but little. 
She was growing worse, and finally was pronounced 
by her physician incurably diseased with " ovarian 
tumor." After six months' use of uncooked food — 
a breakfast of fruit only, with dinner at night com- 
posed of unsifted wheat meal (from one-third to one- 
half cupful, at first, the amount increased later with 
increased exercise), dry, followed with a little fruit — 
she is up and about the house, aiding in the house- 
work, and the past week did the entire family ironing. 
She has been for eight years a great sufferer, but all 
her pains have been banished, and her strength and 
general health are steadily improving under a contin- 
uance of the diet as above described, together with 
light, loose clothing, much fresh air, air-baths, self 
hand-rubbing, and gradually increasing exercise from 
very small beginnings. 

5 [note to page 232.] 

The Long-sought Principle. — It is confess- 
edly a standing disgrace to our profession that, 
after all the boasted "progress in medicine" during 



282 THE NATURAL CURE. 

these hundreds of years of research and experimenta- 
tion, not one great principle has been established by 
means of which the people can be, even if disposed 
(and it can hardly be said that they are, generally), 
guided toward perfect health. It is charged that veg- 
etarianism, even, has failed to speedily make sound, 
bright-eyed, clear-skinned, healthy and therefore 
handsome men and women, out of life-long " sinners" 
against the laws of life; and it must be admitted 
that not all its promises are verified in practice, 
although it seldom fails to greatly improve all 
who adopt the regimen (imperfect as it is — and it is 
very imperfect) as practiced at the various hygienic 
Cures at home and abroad. The trouble is that 
food-reformers have only undertaken to modify, with 
half-way measures — to change a very bad diet for 
one far from good, one form of " mush " for another 
less harmful, but by no means physiological. I 
would assert here as the one all-sufficient principle, 
so far as physical health is concerned, looking to the 
rearing of children, that if we were to take a thousand 
new-born infants — good, bad, and indifferent, as to 
inheritance — and give them pure cow's milk, avoiding 
the cramming that is universally practiced ; say, give 
them two full meals, or three moderate ones a day (the 
quantity altogether gauged by the individual's digest- 
ive capacity) ; and, as they should arrive at suitable 
age (t. e., as teeth began to develop), feed them on 
strictly natural food — the natural diet — fruits, and 
grains (in winter, soaked twelve hours in little wa- 
ter*), the fruit in large proportion ; give them a 

* This treatment restores the flinty grain (wheat, rye, barley, maize, sweet corn) to 
its natural plumpness and masticability. There should be little or no liquid to turn off 



APPENDIX TO SECOND EDITION. 283 

chance to develop normally, such as other young 
animals have — i. e.. } give them freedom from holding, 
tending, baby-carting, and the like, except in the 
smallest measure ; dress them lightly, keep them 
free from foul air, by sufficient ventilation of all living 
rooms ; give them the utmost freedom of the lawns 
or the ground — outdoor exercise — give them this 
sort of treatment, and not five per cent, would die 
under five years of age, nor, with fair regard for 
the known laws of life, would many fail to reach 
old age in health. The at present supposably-inev- 
itable " diseases of infancy and childhood" could 
not exist. The influence of the constant tending 
and holding to which all infants are subjected is dis- 
astrous in a twofold degree : (1) for many months they 
are prevented from taking much voluntary exercioe, 
and (2) this makes the involuntary cramming rela- 
tively more excessive ; hence they grow fat and dis- 
ordered in every way, and predisposed to all manner 
of sicknesses. Children scarcely ever have occasion 
to use their teeth. The food in use requires no 
chewing. Little demand is made upon the salivary 
glands (for food is hot, moist, and " goes down itself ") ; 
hence these glands, which consequently fail to develop 
normally, become at some time acutely diseased, or 
finally almost if not entirely useless. Hollow, sunken 
cheeks result from this cause. It was never designed 
to remedy this defect with fat. The parotid glands 
and the cheek muscles should be developed and main- 
tained by physiological eating. The teeth for want 
of use fail, as the muscular system declines through 



284 THE NATURAL CURE, 

indolence. Unnatural food, fast eating, overeating, 
poor teeth, dentists, " mumps," plethora, and febrile 
diseases, or chronic dyspepsia, and all manner of ail- 
ments — this is the present order of things (see adver- 
tisement of " How to Feed the Baby"). 

6. TIRED FROM INACTION : TOO MUCH " REST." 

The person who works to-day and gets tired, perhaps 
almost exhausted, feels sure from former experiences 
that he will rise next morning well able to w r ork 
again ; and providing he does not overdraw the ac- 
count continually, the more he does the more he can 
do. It is upon this principle that our athletes acquire 
and maintain condition. 

But the consumptive, the delicate person, who, as 
is the case generally, has grown weaker and weaker 
from doing less and less (and this is in accordance with 
natural law), becomes at last " tired " in such a man- 
ner, that without an entire change— a right about 
face—there is no such thing as getting rested this 
side the grave. This exhaustion from indolence must 
be changed for the tiredness resulting from physical 
exertion, or there is no hope of " cure." Friends must 
learn the error of their ways ; they must cease the 
eternal discouragement of the loved one ; there must 
be no more of the incessant, " Now, Jenny, sit right 
down — you will get too tired "; " There, now, let me 
do that — you know how little it takes to tire you "; 
" You are crazy to think of going outdoors such a 
day as this," etc., etc, (see page 85). However kindly 



APT END IX TO SECOND EDITION. 285 

meant all this is, it is, in practice, " hitting a man 
when he is down "; while the usual encouragement to 
eat (digestion or no digestion) — to eat (appetite or 
no appetite — the inaction often forbidding all desire 
for food) is, to use a sporting phrase, a companion 
" slugger " that finally knocks the weakling off the 
stage. This is what produces the phlegm as fast as 
the poor victim can cough it up. Because he has 
nothing to do — because he does nothing — but ponder 
over his condition, eat, manufacture phlegm and 
" raise " it, he lowers himself more and more, until 
he gets to the bottom. He has " raised " about 
everything ; only the frame, the skeleton, is left to 
bury (see pp. 72, 78, 92, 97, 104). 



A FEW OF THE MANY NOTES FROM 
READERS OF THE FIRST EDITION 
OF "NATURAL CURE." 

J. RUSS, Jr., Haverhill, Mass., says: "Dr. Page's 
explanation of the ' colds ' question is alone worth the 
price of a hundred copies of the book — it is, in fact, 
invaluable, going to the very root of the cause of 
sickness." 

Mrs. W. O. Thompson, 71 Irving Place, Brooklyn, 
N. Y., says: "I wish every friend I have could read 
it, and, only that hygienists never harbor ill-feeling, 
that my enemies might not chance to find it. I owe 



286 THE NATURAL CURE. 

much to the truths made clear in ' Natural Cure '; 
more, indeed, than to all the health literature I have 
ever read (and I had read much, because I had much 
need) ; and it is certain that my sister-in-law owes 
her life and present robust health to the professional 
attendance of its author." 

FROM A TEACHER. 

Mrs. S. S. Ga&E, teacher in the Adelphi Academy, 
Brooklyn, N. Y., says : " My friend, Mrs. Thompson, 
recommended this book (' Natural Cure ') to me. 
Thanks to her and 'the book/ my old headaches 
trouble me no more ; I am cured of catarrh and par- 
tial deafness, and, in fact, am better in every way. I 
never could accomplish so much and with so little 
fatigue ; and I am sure that all my intellectual work 
is of better quality than it ever was before." 

FROM A HUSBAND. 

D. Thompson, Lee, N. H., says: " Through fol- 
lowing the advice in ' Natural Cure ' my headaches, 
which have tortured me at frequent intervals for 
forty years, return no more. Formerly I could not 
work for three days at a time, now I work right along. 
For this, as well as for the restoration of my wife to 
health, after we had given her up as fatally sick, I 
have to thank Dr. Page and ' The Natural Cure/ " 

FROM THE WIFE. 

Mrs. S. E. D. Thompson, Lee, N. H., says: "I 
can not well express my gratitude for the benefit I 



APPENDIX TO SECOND EDITION. 287 

have received from this book and the author's per- 
sonal counsel. Condemned to die, I am now well. 
It is truly wonderful how the power of resting is in- 
creased under the influence of the regimen prescribed. 
I have distributed many copies of this book, and have 
known of a life-long asthmatic cured, biliousness removed, 
perennial hay-fever banished for good, and other won- 
derful changes produced, by means of the regimen for- 
mulated in ' Natural Cure.' A friend remarked : ' It 
is full of encouragement for those who wish to live in 
clean bodies/ Another said : l It has proved to me 
that I have been committing slow suicide.' Our 
minister says : ■- 1 have modified my diet and feel like 
a new man/ " 

To this Mrs. Thompson adds, for the author's first 
book, " How TO Feed the Baby " : "I have known 
of a number of babes changed from colicky, fretful 
children to happy well ones, making them a delight 
to their parents, by following its advice." 

William C. Langley, Newport, R. . I., says : 
u While all would be benefited from reading it, I 
would especially commend it to those who, from in- 
herited feebleness, or who, like myself, had declined 
deeply, feel the need of making the most of their lim- 
ited powers. I may add, that this work bears evidence 
that the author has had wide range and extensive 
reading, together with a natural fitness for physiolog- 
ical and hygienic research, keen perception of natural 
law and tact in its application." 



288 THE NATURAL CURE. 

Solomon Alexander, No. 252 East Fifty-second 
Street, New York, says : " I have been greatly bene- 
fited by Dr. Page's treatment for inflammatory rheu- 
matism and Bright's disease, and am now steadily im- 
proving under his direction." July 27, 1883. (Now 
well, November, 1883.) 

Mrs. Dr. Densmore, 130 West 44th Street, New 
York, says: "You can judge of my opinion of 
' Natural Cure ' when I tell you that I am buying it 
of the publishers by the dozen to distribute among 
my patients." 

The Popular Science Monthly for September, 
1883, says : " The author gives several remarkable ex- 
amples of wonderful cures which he knows of having 
been effected by following the principles he lays down 
— principles which may be followed with profit, and 
the following of which may relieve many cases re- 
garded as desperate ; and he has given the public a 
most valuable manual of hygiene." 

The Atlantic Monthly for August, 1883, says: 
" An effort at impressing common-sense views of pre- 
serving and restoring health." 

Several hundreds of most flattering notices from 
secular and religious journals, on file at the publishers' 
office, indicate how this work is being received by 
the public. 



APPENDIX TO SECOND EDITION. 289 



SPECIAL NOTE. 

It is evident from the nature of the press notices of " The Nat- 
ural Cure," that the prefatorial request has been very generally 
complied with, and that not only have critics managed to obtain 
an understanding of the author's position as regards the only 
certain means for physical improvement from low conditions, 
but they are disposed to sustain him in that position. Here and 
there one, however, as was to be expected, from ignorance of 
natural law, from personal preferences or notions, from faith in 
the old way (which has so long been on trial and so signally 
failed), has failed to comprehend the matter. Diving into the 
middle of the book, selecting some chapter or paragraph which 
forbids a consumptive or any frail patient, while doing nothing, 
to eat like a woodchopper or a railroad hand, and especially 
warns such from eating worse kinds of food than the man of 
mighty strength who might, through the influence of active out- 
door pursuits, get rid of considerable coffee, pie, cakes, pickles, 
etc., and (providing his diet included plenty of coarse food) even 
thrive in spite of a good deal of such material (for we know that 
many indoor loafers, even, are too tough to be speedily killed by 
such a diet) — carping critics, we mean to say, selecting some 
special paragraph have held the advice up as " too radical in 
theory." But no person of sound mind can read this book 
through with even a fair degree of care, and not learn that its 
chief aim is to teach people who are now starving, or who are at 
best poorly nutrified, and, next to these, the well ones who mean 
to keep on the safe side, the way to live in order to be well 
nourished and free from the pains, aches, and sicknesses which 
cover the land with wrecks of human beings — dying — who might 
better live in clean, sound, and easy bodies. 



INDEX. 



Advantages of Deep Breathing... 84, nx 
Albuminuria (Bright's Disease) ... 116 
Animal Food, Injurious Effects of 

51, 60, 61 

Animal Food Unnecessary 50, 158 

41 u Stimulating 160 

Acute Stage in the Cure of Chronic 

Disease........ 222 

Appetite, Tempting the, Mischiev- 
ous 66, 157, 262, 267 

Appetite and Insanity 141, 144 

Apoplexy 149 

Air-Baths ; 166, 171, 172 

" and Dyspepsia 168 

Apples and Summer-Complaint.. . . 193 

Bad Blood . 179 

Bacillus Theory, The, of Consump- 
tion 80 

Blood, Bad 179 

Bathing 00, 98, 166, 171, 172 

Bed, A word About the 102 

Bowels, Consumption of the 81 

" Forced Movement of the, 

Unhygienic no 

Baths, Sun 175 

44 Air 166,171,172 

44 Injurious Forms of. 172 

Biliousness 152 

u and " Rich" Food 153 

Bi'ight's Disease (Albuminuria) 116 

44 Symptoms of. 

125, 127, 130 

Breathing, Deep.. 84, in, 137 

Careless 137 

Open-mouth ior 

Difficult, how Relieved. 101 

Beef-tea Fallacy, The 60, 61, 254 

Brain, Pumping away the Effete 

Matters fjom the 137 

Bran (Wheat Hulls) Under the Mi- 
croscope 187 

Brain Workers and Stimulation.... 252 
Bears, Honey-loving 263 

Continence, Influence of Diet in 
the Matter of. 265 

Continence for Consumption, Es- 
sentiality of 105 

Credulity and Ignorance 22 



Cold Air not necessarily Pure 240 

Colds 35, 36, 37, 41, 45, 171, 218 

44 Influence of Diet on 40, 218 

" Natural Cure of... 41 

44 the Name a Misnomer 45 

44 Franklin's Idea of. 171 

44 Absurdity of 40, 41, 42 

Clothing, Day 120 

44 < Night 103 

Constipation 65,107,248 

44 at Child-birth 107 

Consumption , 28 

44 Curability of 29 

Congestion of the Lungs, How Pro- 
duced 99 

Congestion of the Lungs from Indi- 
gestion 99 

Cheerfulness, Importance of. 77, 98 

Carpets and Health 97 

Consumption, Out-door Life Essen- 
tial to the Cure of 30, 48 

Consumption, Dyspepsia the Par- 
ent of. 54 

Consumption from Fatty Degenera- 
tion..... 79 

Constipation, when 44 Closed Bow- 
els " are not, strictly speaking. .65, 107 
Constipation from Deficient Diet. . 112 

Chilliness, How to Remove 109 

Controlling the Symptoms, Folly 

of the Theory of 112 

Cures, Some Natural. 75, 85, 114, 168, 175 
Climate, A Cold, Influence on the 

Kidneys.. > 116, 117 

Croup as a Symptom in Albumin- 
uria 128 

Catarrh 153 

44 Specific Trea t m en t for, 

Danger of. 130 

Catarrh, Suppressed and Diabetes.. 130 

Caffeine allied to Quinine 244 

Coffee 

44 and Indigestion Q51 

44 and Insomnia. 

44 and Health 

44 a Diuretic B51 

Cleanliness and Insomnia.. 138 

Cooking Vegetables, some Hints 

about m 

Cooking, Injurious Effects of.., ,waj\ *W 

(291) 



292 



INDEX. 



Cost of Living 206 

Cure, The Raw-Food 217 

Chronic Diseases usually the Re- 
sult of Chronic Provocation 147 

Child-birth, Constipation at. Nor- 
mal , 107 

Cistern Water, Stagnant, How to 

Renovate 212 

Christmas Dinner, A " Natural ".. 227 

Change of Air at Home 237 

Cream, Unwholesomeness of 231 

Caffeine, Artificial, How Manu- 
factured 248 

Coffee and Courage.. ••;••; 258 

u and Tea more Injurious than 

Beer 261 

Coffee and Alcohol, Physiological 

Effects of, Similar 259 

Conclusion 270 

Cramming the Sick, Mania for 

59, 66 y 76, 146 

Diet, The Natural 207 

" Various Hints about 88, 153 

" Abstemious, for Consump- 
tives 89, 90, 92 

Diet, Prevailing, Unwholesome — 227 
u Excessive, Promotes Con- 
sumption, How 81, 82, 83 

Diet, Influence of, on Health 

48, 59, 66, 81, 88, 99, 112, 113, 122, 126 

Diet, A Physiological 197 

44 and Virtue 265 

Diabetes from Suppressed Nasal 

Catarrh 130 

Diabetes, Treatment for 130 

Death, Sudden, Accounted for.31, 32, 149 
Death Penalty, The, Nature's Com- 
mutation of. 147, 148 

Disease, The Temper 39 

14 Hunger a 39 

" Providence and 8,9,17 

" Prevalence of 9, 14 

fc * Exciting Causes of 11,12 

" Predisposing Causes of. . 

"? I2 > 35* 4° 
Diseases Arising from Renal Dis- 

order..^ 130 

Dyspepsia . 168 

Doctors, A Prescription for 95 

Dry Diet, Advantages of 93 

Degeneration, Fatty.. 78, 79, 80, 148, 150 
Digestive and Muscular Capacity 

Compared 68, 230 

Dysentery, A Hint Concerning 113 

Diathesis, The 4k Disease " . 132 

" Unimportance of the 

Question of 132 

Dyspepsia and Dreams 133 

Diphtheria a Phase of Albuminuria 128 
44 The Class of Persons 

most Subject to 128 

Diuretics, The Best of All 124 

Diuretic, Coffee a , 251 



'Diseases, The True Interpretation 

of 133 

Dyspeptics are Recruited, How. . . . 157 
Diarrhoea, Chronic, Cured with 

Watermelons 192 

Driven Cow's Milk Unnatural 212 

Digestion, Primary, in the Mouth. 93 

Eating Alone Sometimes Useful... 176 
Eating at Bed-time for Sleepless- 
ness 144 

Error, A Common 113 

Exercise, Passive 113 

Exercise, The True Problem About 70 

Exercise for Comsumptives 69 

Exercise. . . 68, 89, 90, 109, 119 

Expectorants, Natural • 89, 91, 105 

Exercise, Lack of, How to Counter- 
act.. 195 

Exercise After Eating 201, 202 

Fruit vs. Fish, Flesh, Fowl & Co. 

in Hot Weather 191 

Fruit in Winter 211 

Food Poisonous Unless Digested. . 246 

Food and Virtue 53, 265 

Faeces, Source of the in 

Foul Air, Poor Economy to Save.. 87 
Food, The Natural, of Man... 48, 72, 207 

Food, 4i Rich," Injurious 88, 153 

44 HotorCold? 99 

Fasts, Professional, Value of. 74 

Fasting, Notable Instances of. 

72, 73, 140, 168 
Fasting, Constipation Normal dur- 
ing 107, 112 

Fasting Cure, The.. .42, 43, 145, 153, 168 

Food as a Purgative 113, 114, 194 

Fatty Degeneration 79, 80, 148, 150 

Obesity not a 

Requisite of, 79 

Fever , 153 

Food, Raw, and Health 

217, 223, 224 

Flies and Health 97 

Fruit. 94, 191, 194 

Food, The Quantity of, Relation of 

Climate to . .^ 117 

Fruit vs. Physic 194 

Fossil Bodies 24, 183, 246 

4< Livers 179 

Fasting and Insanity 140 

Flesh-food Fallacy, The 158 

44 and Bread Compared... 159 

44 Often Diseased 160 

44 Question, Moral Aspect 

of the 163 

Flesh-food and Heredity 164 

44 Unfairness of the Advo- 
cates of 160 

Franklin's Idea of l4 Colds " 171 

Gastric Juice, Proportion of, Se- 
creted 93 



INDEX. 



293 



Gout * 131, 209 

Gouty Habit, The, a Symptom of 

Bright's Disease 131 

Guiteau's Appetite 144 

Grape-Cure, The 214 

Guano and Coffee 248 

Gnawing Stomach a Disease 39 

Hogs, Experiments on . . . . . 82 

Hay-fever. 153, 209 

Health Easily Secured i3 

M Robust, how Promote I . ..85, 96 

41 A Duty 19, 27, 35 

u Relation of, to Morals 

t 7, 54, 265, 270 
Health the Safeguard against Con- 
tagion. 10, 11, 12 

Heart Disease « . . 149 

How to Keep Well 96 

Hints and Aphorisms 154 

House-cleaning in the " Living 

Temple" 155 

Hulls, Wheat, Under the Micro- 
scope ... 187 

Hunger Disease, The 201 

Hot Air may still be Pure 240 

Heart, Palpitation of the, from Cof- 
fee-drinking 244 

Hot Water as a Medicine 98, 100 

Herb Drinks and Female Weakness 251 

Insomnia and Air-baths 138 

" a Symptom only 134 

Ignorance and Credulity 22, 23 

Insomnia and Coffee 137 

Insomnia 133 

Indigestion a Phase of Rheumatism 145 
Indigestion a Cause of Congestion 

of the Lungs gg 

Indigestion from Excess in Diet. .. 93 
Intemperance, How Propagated... 

55i 5 6 i 261 

Insanity and Fasting 140 

Insane ? Who Are and Who are 

Not 134 

Insane, The, Usually Ravenous 

Eaters 141 

Infants are " Loved " to Death, 

How 16 

Japanese, Muscular, how fed 161 

Kidney Diseases Unknown at the 

Arctics n6, 117 

Koch's Theory of Consumption ... 80 
Kitchen-Curse, The . . 233 

Laziness a Disease 34, 5S 

Liver Complaint 168 

Livers, u Fossil " 179 

Liver, Mercury u to Clear Out" 

the, 1S0 

Lungs, Congestion of, from Indi- 
gestion 99 



Long Faces to the Rear, in Sick- 
ness 103 

Long Life, How Promoted 85 

Milk not a Natural Food for Adults. 153 

Morality and Digestion 157 

Malaria... 236,241,247 

Model Meal, A 226 

Meals, Number of, for Health 

%8, 62, 72, 197 
Mercury, to "Clear Out" the 

Liver. __ 180 

Milk Fever from Excessive Diet. . . 150 
Muscular Japanese, How the, are 

fed 161 

Milk and Biliousness 152 

Milk 65,152,212 

Mastication, Importance of 

Thorough '. 92, 93 

Moral Torpor a Disease 34 

Medicine, Hot Water as a 98, 100 

'* Why the Nostrum-mak- 
ers Thrive 25, 26 

Natural Diet, The 207 

Nature Defeated by " Treatment." 258 
Nightmare from Using Tobacco... 251 
Neuralgia, A Hint Concerning . . . 153 
Nervous Prostration, A Hint Con- 
cerning ....... 253 

Normal Constipation 107 

Night-air Superstition, The 48 

Nutrition the Grand Factor in Pre- 
vention or Cure 58 

Nausea and Hot Water 100 

Open Windows for Consumptives.. 89 

for Sewer Gas 236 

Obesity, Natural Cure of. 148 

One-meal System, The 62, 197 

Organs, How all the Vital, become 
Degenerated 181 

Passions, Influence of Diet upon 

the _ 265 

Passive Exercise for Consumptives. 99 

u " lk Constipation. 109, 113 

Piles, How, are Produced in 

Premature Deaths 16, 230 

Pneumonia 102 

Poison, "One's Meat Another's". 4^ 

kl How Food becomes 61,246 

Providence and Disease.. .... 8, 9, 17 

Practice, the Reform, Obstacles to. 66, 05 

Physiology a Part of Theology 34 

Physic, Good Health the Best. . . toS 

k * Bad Effects of 107 

44 Fruit the Best 104 

Pain, the Office of. Friendly 134 

Pure Air, Popular Ignorance Con- 
cerning -\;- 

Pure Air, How to Ensure it . ;j 

Physical Independence 

Prejudice, Popular, against Reform 134 



294 



INDEX. 



Purgative, Tobacco as a 250 

Purgative, Food as a., 113, 114, 194 

Quinine and Caffeine Closely Allied 244 

Roman Fever, The Cause o£ 236 

Race Horses are Injured, How. . . . 198 

Reform, A Rational 234 

Reformed Practice, Obstacles to 

the.. 22,66,95 

Rest after Meals. . ...^ 200, 202 

Regimen^ The Traditional 12 1 

Rheumatism.. ... 145 

44 A Phase of Indigestion 145 

" Chronic, Treatment for 147 

Rich Food a Cause of Biliousness.. 153 

Supportive Treatment, The 258 

Salisbury Theory, The, of Con- 
sumption 81 

Saline Starvation . 177 

Scorbutic (Scurvy) Condition Pre- 
disposes to Zymotic Diseases. ... 10 

Sedentary Life, Effects of a 78, 84 

Scrofula, Something About.. ...... 

_ 175, 194, 229, 231 

Sickness, The Absurdity of. 9 

Scrofulous Humors, How Manu- 
factured 231 

Self-cure, Mrs. E.'s Story of her 

own 85 

Sewer-gas. 236 

Straining at Stool Injurious no 

Stimulation of the Kidneys Unnat- 
ural 126 

Skin, The Adaptability of the Skin 
to Sudden Changes of Tempera- 
ture 35 

Sympathetic Nervous System^ The. 31, 46 
Starvation, Eating Sometimes 

Hastens 72 

Starvation, Saline 177 

Starvation, Dyspeptic 58, 66 

Stomach, The, the most abused of 

all the Organs 46 

Sugar, Artificial, Injurious 78 

Stomach Baths.. 100 

*-' Signs of Disordered 57 

Stomachs, Sensitive, and Wheat 

Hulls 189 

Sleeping Alone 106 

Sleep, Efforts £o Induce, Self-de- 
feating »..*35i *3 6 



Sun-Baths. ......».»..,... 173 

Sunday Headaches, Cause of the. . 20G 
Symptoms, Controlling The (!).. .. 112 
Stimulation from Diphtheritic Poi- 
son 258 

Stimulation, The true Theory 

about 257 

Sleeplessness Cured by Late Eating 144 

" an Analogue of Pain» 135 

Sunstrokes, Cause of 196 

Sleep, Regular Hours for, Neces- 
sary 135 

Summer Tortures, How avoided..* ig$ 

Traditional Regimen, The ........ 121 

Treatment, The " Supportive '\. . . 258 

Tobacco and Insomnia 137 

" _ as a Purgative**.. 250 

Treating in Eating 156 

Teeth, One Cau9e of Poor 207, 249 

Typhoid Subject, A. 15 

Telegraph System, Wonders of the 

Human 31, 46 

Table, A Well-furnished 79 

Toothache 153 

Thirst, How to Prevent 98, 100 

Tongue, The Story Told by the. . . 63 

Un naturalness of the Prevailing 

Diet 227, 265, 266 

Variety in Food not desirable. . . .92, 213 

Virtue, Influence of Diet on 53, 265 

Valance, Poor Thomas 125 

Vegetarian Diet and Quantity 161 

Vegetarians, Some Noted 51, 161 

Vegetarianism and Endurance 161 

Vegetable Food.. .48, 51, 52, 72, 158, 161 
Vegetables Spoiled by Cooking, 

How 177 

Vinegar Yeast in the Blood, a 

Cause of Consumption 81, 82 

Ventilation 47, 48, 97, 236, 23b, 239 

Vickers, The Case of Mr 75 

Watermelons, A Stale Joke about. 191 

" for Bowel Troubles.. 192 

Water as a Medicine . . .98, 100, 113, 190 

Weakness from Hot Drinks 251 

White Flour, Cone ?rning 49 

Worrying, Effects of 85 

Waves of Disease ! g 

Wheat-meal vs. M Entire Flour ". . 184 



The Natural Cure : Consumption, Dyspepsia, 
Nervous Diseases, Gout, Rheumatism, Insom- 
nia (Sleeplessness), Bright's Disease, etc. 
By C E. Page, M.D. 12MO, cloth, $i.oo. 

a few of the many notes from readers. 

J. Russ, Jr., Haverhill, Mass., says: " Dr. Page r s explanation of the 'colds 1 
question is alone worth the price of a hundred copies of the book— it is, in fact, in- 
valuable, going to the very root of the question of sickness." 

Mrs. W. O. Thompson, 71 Irving Place, Brooklyn, N. Y., says : " I wish every 
friend I have could read it, and, only that hygienists never harbor ill-feeling, that 
my enemies might not chance to find it. I owe much to the truths made clear in 
4 Natural Cure,' and it is certain that to it and the professional attendance of the 
author, my sister-in-law owes her life and present robust health." 

FROM A TEACHER. 
Mrs. S. S. Gage, teacher in the Adelphi Academy, Brooklyn, N. Y.,says : "My 
friend, Mrs. Thompson, recommended this book (* Natural Cure') to me. Thanks 
to her and k the book,' my old headaches trouble me no more ; I am better in every 
way. I never could accomplish so much and with so little fatigue ; and I am sure 
that all my intellectual work is of better quality than it ever was before." 

FROM A HUSBAND. 
D. Thompson, Lee, N. H,, says : " Through following the advice in l Natural 
Cure ' my headaches, which have tortured me at frequent intervals for forty years, 
return no more. Formerly I could not work for three days at a time, now I work 
right along, For this, as well as for the restoration of my wife to health, after we 
had given her up as fatally sick, I have to thank Dr. Page and 4 The Natural Cure.' ? » 

FROM THE WIFE. 

Mrs. S. E. D. Thompson, Lee, N. H., says : ** I can not well express my grati- 
tude for the benefit I have received from the book and its author's personal coun- 
sel. Condemned to die, I am now well. It k truly wonderful how the power of 
resting is increased under the influence of the regimen prescribed. I have dis- 
tributed many copies of this book, and have known of a life-long asthmatic cured ', 
biliousness removed, perennial kay-J ever banished for good, and other wonderful 
changes wrought, by means of the regimen formulated in i Natural Cure. 1 A 
friend remarked : i It is full of encouragement for those who wish to live in clean 
■bodies.' Another said: l It has proved to me that I have been committing slow 
suicide.' Our minister says : 1 1 have modified my diet and feel like a new man.' " 

To this Mrs. Thompson adds, for the author's first book, " How to Feed the 
Baby ": " I have known of a number of babes changed from colicky, fretful chil- 
dren to happy well ones, making them a delight to their parents, by following its 
advice." 

William C. Langley, Newport, R. I., says : "While all would be benefited from 
reading it, I would especially commend it to those who, from inherited feebleness, 
or, like myself, had declined deeply, feel the need of making the most of their lim- 
ited powers. I may add, that this work bears evidence that the author has had 
wide range, and extensive reading, together with a natural fitness for physiological 
and hygienic research, keen perception of natural law and tact in its application." 

Mrs. Dr. Densmore, 130 West 44th Street, New York, says : "You can judge of 
my opinion of 4 Natural Cure'' when I tell you that lam buying it of the publishers 
by the dozen to distribute among my patients." 

The Popular Science Monthly for September, 18S3, speaks highly of the work, 
closing with, w the public has in this work a most valuable manual of Hygiene." 

The Atlantic Monthly for August, 1S83, savs •' " II is an efl fc>rt at impressing 
Common-sense views of preserving and restoring health." 

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History of Salem Witchcraft.— -A 
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How to Magnetize ; or, Magnetism 
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-Management of Infancy, Physi- 
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For Girls ; A Special Physiology, or 
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The Natural Cure of Consump- 

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Peck (J. L. ; — The Human Feet.— 
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NOW READY. FIFTH EDITION, REVISED. 



HOW TO FEED 

THE BABY, 

TO MAKE HER HEALTHY AND HAPPY. With Health 
Hints. By C. E. Page, M.D. i2mo, paper, 50 cts. ; ex. clo., 75 cts. 

Dr. Page has devoted much attention to the subject, both in this coun* 
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ful inquiries as to the feeding, care, etc., and this work is a special record 
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by many mothers in all parts of the land, as one o^ the most vital ques- 
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to feed the baby, this volume tells how to feed the baby, which is o'f equal 
importance. 

That the work may be considered worthy of a wide circulation may be 
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NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 



"The hook should be read by every 
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—Boston Journal of Commerce. 

" We wish every mother and father too 
could read it, as we believe it is founded 
on common-sense and the true theory of 
infantile life." — Eve. Farmer, Bridgeport, 
Conn. 

" His treatise ought to be in the hands of 
young mothers particularly, who might 
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ing it . "— Brooklyn Eagle. 

" Should interest mothers ; for it is a 
really scientific and sensible solution of 
the problem of health and happiness in the 
nursery."— Buffalo Courier. 

" v How to Feed the Baby • ought to do 
good if widely read ; for there can be no 
doubt that thousands of babies die from 
ignorance on this very subject." — Amer- 
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"It is as odd as its title, and is funny, 
Interesting, entertaining, and instructive." 
—Times, Biddeford, Me. 



" We know this manual will be welcomed 
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with parents is how to feed the baby, to 
promote its health, its growth, and its 
happiness."— Christian Advocate, Buffalo, 
N. Y. 

" Our author makes plain how infantile 
diseases may, in great measure, be avoided, 
and infantile Hie made as free and joyous 
as that of tbe most fortunate among the 
lower animals."— Central Baptist. 

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"'How to Feed the Baby* should be 
taken home by every father to the mother 
of his children, if he values quiet nights. 
and is not inclined to pay heavy doctors' 
bills, or bring up sickly children."— Food 
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"It is safe to say that in proportion as 
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-A.XT irtv^zFozEvr-A-iNrT "wotvez. 







THEIE FEED AND THEIE FEET. 

A Manual of Horse Hygiene, invaluable for the Veteran or the 
Novice, pointing out the Causes of " Malaria," "Glanders," " Pink 
Eye," " Distemper," etc., and How to Prevent and Counteract 
Them. By C. E". Page, M.D., author of " How to Feed the Baby," 
" Natural Cure," etc., with a Treatise and Notes on Shoeing by Sir 
George Cox and Col. M. C. Weld. Illustrated with Pictures of 
many Famous and Thoroughbred Horses. Nearly 200 pages. 
i2mo, paper, 50 cents; extra cloth, 75 cents. 

The value of the most of horses to their owners is measured by the 
amount and length of service that can be secured, and therefore all 
information relative to his care is very important. This book gives 
in a condensed form much that is valuable on the care of horses, that 
has not before been published. The subject is considered from a 
new and original stand-point, and stated in a plain, practical, com- 
mon-sense manner, showing how by proper care we may add many 
valuable years of life and usefulness to our horses. Unlike many 
books issued on this subject, it does not advertise any medicinci. 

PAETIAL LIST OF CONTENTS. 



Foul Air and Disease in Stable and Home ; 
Blanketing a Steaming Horse ; How to Trans- 
form a "Seedy" Horse; "Condition 1 ' in 
Horses ; Why they go Lame Suddenly ; Flesh 
vs. Fat ; A Soft Horse ; Fatty Degeneration ; 
Hint to Would-be Race-Winners; Two-meal 
System ; Extra Feed ; When Injurious ; Dys- 
pepsia or Indigestion, Symptoms and Cause ; 
Cause and Cure of vt Pulling "; The Human 
Puller; "Colds"; What this Disorder really 
Is, and * How Caused; Prevention of the 
" Distemper," Its Cure ; Cold Air not Neces- 
sarily Pure ; Hand - Rubbing vs. Drugs ; 
Danger of Medication; Concerning the Use of 
Blanket; Clipping; Eating and Digesting-— 
the Difference ; Kind of Treatment ; Over- 
driving ; Over-work ; A Safe Remedy ; Chest 
Founder; Chronic Disease, Cause; Hints 
relating to Food and Drink ; Sore Back ; 
Scrofula; Glanders; Kidney Complaints; 
Relation of *' Condition " to Reserved Force 
or Staying Power ; Quantity of Food ; The 
lust Feed, Corn on the Cob ; Flatulence ; 
Ciihhing; " Grassing Out''; About the Ap- 
petite ; Feeding of Road Horses; What a 



Father-in-Law Learned; How a Truckman 
Avoided Lost Time, and Improved the Con- 
dition of his Horse ; Trying to " Make a Horse 
Laugh " ; First-class Stables ; The Eternal 
" Mash " ; Veterinary Practice ; Founder ; 
"Counter Irritation " with a Vengeance ; Eat- 
ing the Bedding ; Rules that may be Safely 
Tried ; Check Rein ; Blinders. 

SHOEING— Ignorance, not Cruelty, to 
Blame for the Horse's Premature Decay ; 
Value of Horse Property ; Normal Age of the 
Horse ; Chief Source of the Horse's Suffer- 
ing ; One Cause and Cure of Swelled Legs ; 
Unnecessary Work ; Value of Brakes ; E 
of Shoe Nails ; " Inconceivable Cruelty." as 
defined by Mr. Mayhew ; Running Barefoot 
over Rocky Hills ; Direct and Indirect Bene- 
fit of Reform ; Everybody but the Black- 
smith Benefited; Adequacy of the Natural 
Foot for all Demands ; Independence of the 
Unshod Horse ; French and English and 
Mexican Army Experiences; Col. W< 
Experience; The Experience of Others; 
Speeding without Shoes ; The Training 
Character of Horses. 



To a new edition just published has been added, as plates, a num- 
ber of portraits of famous and thoroughbred horses, including " Jay- 
Eye-See," " Parole," "Alcantara." "Miss Woodford," " Estes," etc 

It is safe to say that to every owner of a horse this book would 
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Pfliif p in wp pengEpeiiD, 

OR 

HYGIENIC COOKERY. 

By SUSANNA W. DODDS, M.D. 

One large i2mo volume, 600 pages, extra cloth or oil-cloth binding, price $2.00, 
►-« 

The object of this work is to enable health-seekers, and those who 
would eat for life and for strength, to furnish their tables with food that is 
wholesome, and at the same time palatable. 

Foods as ordinarily cooked, are robbed of their delicious flavors and 
rich juices, by all manner of wasteful and injurious processes, after which 
one tries in vain to compensate for these defects, by adding condiments 
and seasonings ad infinitum. 

The work is divided into three parts. Part First, giving 44 1 A Iie 
M.ea£©2X "Wily," contains the philosophy of nutrition, giving the 
constituent elements of various articles of food, and their relative values, 
with directions for the proper selection and combination of the different 
kinds of foo&, and the reasons for some articles being better than others, 
with dietetic rules and hints in regard to Health in the Household. 

Part Second contains the u Hy galenic IMetary." Here we 
have directions for the preparation of food, recipes for cooking, etc., in 
what the author considers a strictly healthful manner ; including breads of 
all kinds, the preservation of fruits, vegetables, etc. 

Part Third is what the author calls " The Compromise," 
containing directions for preparing food, not strictly in accordance with the 
Hygienic way, but in such a manner as to render it more plain and health- 
ful than it is ordinarily found ; and it will prove helpful and suggestive to 
many who find it difficult, on account of surrounding circumstances, to 
adopt the more strict Hygienic cookery. 

Undoubtedly the best and most practical Family Cook-Book, and will 
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Agents Wanted, to whom special terms will be given. Copies sen 
by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price. For terms address 

FOWLER & WEMLS, Puifclisliers, 

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2STOW RE^D^.t*-— 
FOR 

A Manual of Hygiene for Woman and the Household. By 
Mrs. E. G. Cook, M.D. i2mo, extra cloth. Price, $1.50. 

This work is written from an experience and large observation ex- 
tending over a quarter of a century. It will, to many who study its 
contents, lighten the hearts made heavy and sad by years of suffer- 
ing which has come from ignorance of physical laws. The work 
opens with a chapter on the importance of physical culture, and 
graphic pictures are drawn of the girls of the old New England times 
and those of the fashionable society girls of to-day. The chapter on 
bones is full of suggestions in making a strong frame-work for the 
muscles to clothe, and the education of the muscles considered of 
greater importance (with aids to its accomplishment) than many of 
the so-called " fine arts," now held to be, by many of our schools, of 
more importance. Great stress is laid upon the need of selecting 
studies in educating girls as well as boys, with a view to their uses in 
after-life, remembering that what is not put into daily practice is 
soon lost, aaad instead of perfecting the education in these directions, 
time and money, and shall we add health also, are sacrificed. The 
chapters on the brain and nervous system, the structure and care of 
the skin, hygiene and ventilation, are what every one in the house- 
hold should read, as they are made so plain in the simple style of 
the author, that children can readily comprehend them. If the 
knowledge which the chapter on bread and butter sets forth was used, 
no one could have dyspepsia. 

The special knowledge which is given to women in order that they 
may understand the various displacements of the uterus and its dis- 
eases, will bring long-sought help to multitudes who shall study and 
practice the teachings given in the chapters devoted to them. The 
feeding of children ; the rights of children, and the evils of a forced 
education are all discussed; and the work is fully illustrated with 
fine engravings. It is safe to predict a great change in the physical 
well-being of all in the near future, if this book can be placed in the 
hands of the mothers and daughters in the land. The times arc ripe 
and ready for the knowledge which it contains. It is handsome 
bound, contains over 300 pages, and would be a richer gift to either 
wife or daughter than gold or diamonds. Sent by mail, on receipt 
-of price, $1.50. Agents Wanted. Address 

FOWLER & WELLS, Publishers, 753 Broadway, N. Y. 



GhI"VEIsr -A."W\AT2T 



o 

o 

o 







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5 

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TO THE 



HRENGLOGIGAL JOURNAL. 

This publication is widely known in America and Europe, having been before the read- 
ing world forty years, and occupying a place in literature exclusively its own, viz : the study 
of Human Xature in all its phases, including Phrenology, Physiognomy, Ethnology, Physi- 
ology, etc., together with the " Science of Health," and no expense will be spared to make 
it the best publication for general circulation, tending always to make men better physically, 
mentally, and morally. Parents should read the Journal that they may better know how to 
govern and train their children. To each subscriber is given 

THE PHRENOLOGICAL BUST. 

This bust is made of Plaster of Paris, and so lettered as to show the exact location of 
each of the Phrenological Organs. The head is nearly life-size, and very ornamental, de- 
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articles published in the Journal on "Practical Phrenology," will enable the reader to 
becojie a successful student of Human Nature. One of these heads should be in the handf 
of all who would know " How to Read Character." 

ICozTODGLS- — The Journal is now published at $2.00 a year (having been reduced 
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Send amount in P. O. Orders, Drafts on New York, or in Registered Letters. Postage- 
stamps will be received. Agents Wanted, Send 10 cents for specimen Number, Premium 
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Address FOWLER & WELLS, Publishers, 

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